The Black Widow Read Online Free PDF

pounds playing faro three weeks ago. You needn’t tell Mama, however, because she will get it into her noggin that I am a hardened gamester, and I am no such thing.”
    “And what of Miss Prestwich? Are your intentions serious?”
    “I should say not,” Collier replied indignantly, “and I think it is a cursed nuisance that m’mother has dragged you away from your horses for such a silly reason. Despite what everyone is saying in the clubs, dancing with her is not all that dangerous. So far this year, no one has died, although Lambreth did take a bad tumble down the stairs directly after he stood up with the Black Widow, but all he broke was his arm. Got a thick skull, Lambreth does.”
    His temper inflamed by hearing that repulsive nickname, Demetrius was hard put to resist the impulse to knock some sense into his brother’s thick skull. But with a herculean effort he managed to keep his tone of voice mild. “So you have been asking Miss Prestwich to dance in order to ... how shall we phrase it? To prove your manhood?’’
    Collier shifted uneasily in his seat. “Well, you have to understand how it is, Demetrius. Everyone must dance with her at least once or be called a coward.”
    “So you think it is a mark of bravery to persecute a poor defenseless female?” Unable to remain still any longer, Demetrius rose to his feet and scowled down at his brother. “You think a real man goes around blithely causing misery to a young lady? Tell me again—how do you justify such odious, dishonorable conduct? Explain it to me, because I must admit it seems to me to be the most low-down, cowardly kind of behavior imaginable, and I am ashamed that my own brother has taken part in such a despicable affair.”
    His head hanging low, Collier did not immediately reply. “It’s all m’mother’s fault,” he said finally. “I never wanted to be stuck here in London in the first place. There is nothing to do here but gamble or flirt with silly chits who have little on their minds but clothes and dancing. I wanted to go to Spain and fight against Boney, but you know Mama has refused to buy me my colors. If she has her way, she will forever keep me on leading strings, as if I were still in short coats—you can’t know what it’s like, Demetrius!”
    “Indeed? At this point, I cannot blame her. You sound exactly like a petulant little boy whining because he cannot always have his own way. You say you want to prove you are a man, and yet at the first sign of trouble you hide behind your mother’s skirts. ‘It’s all m’mother’s fault,’” he mimicked. “And you think Wellesley needs ‘men’ like you in Spain. Bah!”
    Demetrius turned his back on his brother and stalked out of the room, pausing in the doorway only long enough to add, “And I warn you, if you ever again refer to Miss Prestwich as the Black Widow, I shall thrash you to within an inch of your life.”
    * * * *
    “You have just made a green daisy, sister dear.” Hester pointed out the mistake with the usual note of glee in her voice.
    Meribe looked down at the embroidery in her lap. Oh, blast, her mind had been wandering again, and she had finished the leaves and continued on without remembering to change colors of floss. Now she would have to unpick the whole flower, which she despised doing ... but which she was well experienced at.
    Given her propensity for daydreaming, she should stick to hemming sheets, but Aunt Phillipa insisted that Meribe could become as proficient with all types of needlework as she herself was if Meribe would only put her mind to it. Which was the problem, of course. Meribe had trouble putting her mind to all the tasks Aunt Phillipa assigned her.
    The only thing she really enjoyed was growing plants, but her aunt refused to let her have a garden spot of her own. Grubbing around in the dirt was not, in her aunt’s opinion, a ladylike pastime.
    “Yes, what is it, Smucker?” Aunt Phillipa looked up from the book of improving