The Adventuress Read Online Free PDF

out.”
    â€œYou are a dear, sweet thing,” Amity said, “and I shall tell Daddy that we are done here. I don’t want you tormented for even a single minute more.”
    â€œYou are so kind to me,” Christabel said.
    â€œYour friendship makes up for all the years I spent with nothing but brothers in the house.”
    â€œHow many brothers?” Jack asked.
    â€œFive, each of them perfectly savage. Augustus, the youngest, is perhaps the least awful of them, but I despise them all,” Amity said. “Fortunately Daddy does, too. He fears for his business when he’s gone. I think that is part of the reason he wants to see me well settled. He knows my brothers will do nothing but squander everything they have. What about your brother, Jack? Is he a savage?”
    Jack laughed. “A savage? Not quite. Your father would, no doubt, object to his reluctance to do any sort of useful work, but in his case, that would only mean managing the estate, and my mother handles that. My father quite relied on her. I have never been able to determine whether Jeremy refuses to assist her because he wants to lead a meaningless life or if it is all just a scheme to let her continue. She and my father adored each other, you see, and his death left her heartbroken. If she were no longer needed on the estate, I am not sure what she would have to live for.”
    â€œHer sons, of course,” Christabel said.
    â€œNo, she never much cared for either of us. She was too engrossed in everything to do with Father. At any rate, we were away at school most of the time. After that, I dedicated myself to the pursuit of adventure, something to which my mother never objected. It did not trouble her in the least when I set off to re-create the travels of Marco Polo, even when I told her I might be gone for several years.”
    â€œDid you succeed?” Amity asked.
    â€œNo, alas,” Jack said. “We made it from Venice to Constantinople and then to Jerusalem, where, after visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, my compatriots decided they wanted to return to Europe. They’d had enough of the East, they said, and not even Polo’s descriptions of the palace at Xanadu could induce them to continue on. The only encouragement I got was from my mother, who told me in every brief letter she wrote not to worry that she was suffering from my absence.”
    â€œIs she kinder to your brother?” Christabel asked.
    â€œNot in the least. She scolds him constantly.”
    â€œYet despite this, your brother does all he can to ensure her comfort. Is it possible that he, whom you have previously mentioned only occasionally, but always in terms that made me believe him to be something of a dissolute cad, might, in fact, be of noble character?” Amity asked.
    â€œThere is a slim possibility,” Jack said. “Nobility is in his blood, after all.”
    â€œOh, you British and your aristocracy.” Amity sighed. “I suppose it does make things awfully nice so long as you’re the one inheriting. No need to work or be useful.”
    â€œThat does not spare one from feeling the pressure to maintain the estate and take care of one’s tenants,” Jack said. “I, fortunately, need not worry about either. I much prefer the army.”
    â€œAnd India?” Christabel asked.
    â€œYes, although I am afraid I shan’t be here much longer. I am being posted to Egypt next month.”
    â€œEgypt? Is this an attempt to follow us when we leave India?” Amity asked.
    â€œYou are both going to Egypt?” Jack asked. “I thought your mother was taking you back to England, Christabel?”
    â€œAmity has persuaded me to stay with her.”
    â€œIt was difficult,” Amity said, “but Daddy saw to her. He called on her five times every single day until she relented. He wants me to be happy, and he knows I can’t be if I don’t have my Christabel