Ring of Secrets Read Online Free PDF

few times and exchanging a single greeting. Your intuitiveness astounds me, George.” Ben lifted the cloth on a particularly fragrant package. “Ah! Bread. Your mother has enough flour for this?”
    â€œShe had been hoarding it for the Christmas feast, apparently, and thank heavens for the freezing temperatures or it surely would have been weevil ridden by now.” George leaned onto the table, bending over to catch his friend’s gaze. “Ben. I grant hers is the prettiest face inthe City of New York, but you have better sense than to get caught up in her game. If she does give you the time of day, it will only be because of your family’s fortune.”
    And yet if that were in her mind, she would have obeyed those prods he’d seen her grandmother make toward him rather than avoiding him so adroitly. No, Miss Reeves was not interested in his fortune.
    Though any observer would argue she wasn’t interested in any of his other qualities, either.
    He flipped open another parcel. “And bread pudding too. You know, I grew so accustomed to not celebrating Christmas as per New England regulation, ’tis hard to remember it is more than a quiet time of reflection for so many of my friends and family.”
    â€œCelebration became considerably louder when the British arrived, for certain. Their revelry helps me understand why our Puritan forefathers forbade such boisterous observance of the day.” George tapped a box. “Your gift.”
    â€œYours is there.” He indicated the present, wrapped in calico, that sat on his side table. When George had fetched it, he untied the string on his own gift. And laughed.
    George did as well, holding up the book Ben had selected for him. Alexander Pope’s translation of The Iliad .
    Ben held up his new Odyssey , courtesy of the same translator. “Your warning about Miss Reeves suddenly makes sense.”
    â€œI noticed you did not have your copy here. Perhaps you left it in Connecticut, but I know how you love to pass a winter night with Homer, so it seemed a lack in need of filling.” George shook his head and smoothed a hand over the tome. “And because many of mine were lost in the fire, this one included, I greatly appreciate your thinking the same.”
    â€œCertainly.” He waved a hand at the treats covering the table. “Would you like some?”
    â€œI must hasten home. If my sister and her family get there before I do, I shan’t hear the end of it all day. And since I cannot convince you to join me…”
    â€œI do appreciate the offer, George. And the book. Shall I give Miss Reeves your felicitations?”
    â€œI would prefer it if you gave her your own permanent farewells.”
    Chuckling, Ben saw his friend to the door. Then he sighed when silence smothered him yet again. He enjoyed quiet, even depended upon it much of the time, but he also relished a good debate, an evening spent in philosophical discourse. Things sadly missing from his current existence.
    Well, he might as well head to the Hamptons’. He may not find any exhilarating conversation there, but perhaps he’d be able to corner Miss Reeves again. Another taste of her delightfully underhanded wit would be a welcome change from all these thoughts of spy-catching.
    After donning cloak, hat, and gloves, he went round back for his horse and set off for Hampton Hall.
    Minutes later he was doffing that which he’d just donned and following a servant into a parlor bursting with well-dressed merrymakers. A few of the officers looked to be in their cups already, their laughter loud and grating.
    Was there no happy place between silence and carousing? Perhaps he ought to have gone with George after all.
    â€œAh, Mr. Lane. Welcome, and a happy Christmas to you.” Mr. Hampton held out a hand in greeting, thunder in his brows. Did the man not know how to smile?
    â€œThank you, sir, for opening your home to