The Bracelet Read Online Free PDF Page A

were here just yesterday. Brought some new bed linens and not a moment too soon either.” The girl frowned. “’Course, what we need most is a sewing machine and a piano for Iris, and—”
    “Annie?” The asylum director hurried into the foyer, patting her silver curls into place. She adjusted her spectacles and squinted at Celia. “Who . . . oh, Miss Lorens. And Miss Browning.”
    Celia inclined her head. “Good morning, Mrs. Clayton.”
    The woman smiled and dismissed Annie with a curt nod. “May I offer you some tea? I’d like to discuss something with you if you have a moment.”
    Celia hid her surprise. Though she was in charge of fund-raising, the older ladies in her circle—Mrs. Mackay, Mrs. Low, Mrs. Green, and Mrs. Lawton—were equally devoted to the aims of the asylum: to ensure that orphaned or abandoned girls grew up to lead moral, disciplined, and productive lives. Mrs. Mackay and Mrs. Lawton were usually the ones to whom Mrs. Clayton turned for advice.
    “It won’t take long,” the director said.
    Ivy stepped forward and smiled. “Of course we are happy to help in any way we can, Mrs. Clayton.”
    The older woman led the way into her small parlor and rang a bell for tea. Celia took a chair by the open window that afforded a view of the carriages and buggies crowding the street and of a small garden filled with jessamine and magnolias. Palmettos rustled and clacked in the warm September wind.
    A plump young woman in a faded calico dress brought the tea things. The director poured, passed the milk and sugar, and dismissed the girl. When the door closed, Mrs. Clayton leaned forward in her chair. “You probably don’t know Captain Stevens. He’s hardly a member of your circle. But he’s well known on the waterfront.”
    Celia sipped her tea, recalling glimpses of a beefy, broad-shouldered man who commanded three cargo vessels. “I can’t say I’ve met him, but my father pointed him out to me several times. The captain is Danish, I believe. He makes quite a good living transporting produce from the plantations. He consigns his cargo to one of Papa’s colleagues on Commerce Row. Mr. Habersham.”
    “That’s the one,” Mrs. Clayton said. “Well, last week Captain Stevens turned up here with a girl in tow. Apparently she hid herself away on one of his vessels, and he didn’t find her until he docked in Savannah. Of course he didn’t know what to do with her, so he brought her here. In rags and half starved she was, but she refuses to say where she came from. Captain Stevens will make inquirieson his next trip to the island, but for the moment we can’t be sure whether she is without a family or merely ran away.”
    “But in any case, she must be looked after,” Ivy said, stirring more sugar into her tea.
    “Precisely.” Mrs. Clayton turned her faded blue eyes on Celia. “That’s where you come in, my dear. So long as she is here, we must do our best to mold her mind and her character. She has shown some interest in books, but she is so far behind the other girls that Miss Ransom despairs of catching her up. I remember how much the girls enjoyed your reading to them on your visits last spring, and I hoped you might find time to read with Louisa. She seems bright enough.”
    The director paused for breath. “I know it’s presumptuous of me to ask, especially when you’re working so hard to raise money for us, but everyone else has declined. All for very good reasons, but still . . .” She smiled. “I’m sure we will see great progress even if you can spare only a few hours each week.”
    Celia set down her cup. She wanted to do as much as possible for the girls, and she was curious about the runaway. But in addition to the fund-raising reception, she had the masquerade ball to plan. And dinner tomorrow night with her father at the Greens’. And Sutton might arrive home any moment. “Mrs. Clayton, I would love to help but—”
    “We’ll both help,” Ivy said. “With the two