The Heiress Companion Read Online Free PDF Page A

matters, but your mamma was kind enough to offer her asylum.”
    “A very romantical story, Lyn. If you see her, please
entertain her until we can join you. She looks very much like Rowena, as a
matter of fact.”
    “Well, she looks much as I did when I was her age,” Miss
Cherwood conceded. “Now, ma’am, do you intend to dress for dinner or no?”
    “See, I am bullied shamelessly in my own house,” Lady
Bradwell protested laughingly to her son. “Go along, darling. I shall see you
below directly.”
    Lyndon Bradwell left the room, another point against Miss
Cherwood firmly entered in his books. Invite a strange cousin here to trespass
on his mother’s hospitality? Even if the girl herself were unexceptionable, it
betokened something of Miss Rowena’s attitude toward her position at Broak. Mr.
Bradwell did not like it.
    But when he made Margaret Cherwood’s acquaintance that
evening (and she did look remarkably like her cousin, only younger, sweeter,
and with an endearing shyness which he was certain Miss Rowena had never
possessed) he was ready to rearrange his ideas once again. By the time Lady
Bradwell, Lord Bradwell, and Miss Cherwood joined them in the small saloon, Mr.
Bradwell and Miss Margaret considered themselves fast friends. Lady Bradwell,
looking from Lyn to Margaret to Lyn, and then to Rowena, invited her silently
to share in her matchmaking plot. Rowena returned the smile rather inscrutably,
and comforted herself with the thought that at least Lady Bradwell, Margaret,
and Lyndon Bradwell could be safely left to entertain each other while she
attended to the business of Broak, and to the party. Lord Bradwell, of course,
could be depended to settle himself with the grooms and keep from underfoot.
    So, she thought, the Prodigal was home at last; the guest of
honor would bless the company with his presence at the party, and all, finally,
must be right with the world.

Chapter Three
    Thankfully, at least in Miss Cherwood’s opinion, she was
kept much too busy with the superintendence of minutiae, and Mr. Bradwell was
much too occupied in entertaining his mother and Margaret with stories of
Madrid and with reacquainting himself with his home, for them to meet much.
When she thought of Lady Bradwell’s prodigal son at all, it was either to
wonder how such a sweet-tempered parent could have raised such an objectionable
son, or to reflect with thanks on how well Lyndon Bradwell, Lady Bradwell, and
Margaret seemed to be going along. Having left Margaret with strict
instructions that Lady Bradwell was on no account to overtax her strength or to
strain her eyes, Rowena was able to turn her attention to the last pressing
issues of silver, champagne, and iced cup.
    Now and again Margaret, or Mr. Bradwell, or even, on one
memorable occasion, Lord Bradwell, turned up at the office door inquiring if
there were errands to be run. Margaret she dismissed with the admonition that
the best thing she could do was to keep Lady Bradwell company; to Lyn Bradwell
she said she would not hear of the guest of honor running errands for his own
party; and when Lord Bradwell offered his assistance, Rowena went so far as to
tell Lyn that the kindest effort he could make would be to keep his lordship
out of the house and away from the office. Mr. Bradwell, after a moment’s
surprise, agreed, and a few minutes later Rowena heard him unenthusiastically
requesting his brother’s company for an hour’s ride.
    Left alone with the last of her lists and the occasional
company of Drummey, Mrs. Coffee, and the chief groom, Rowena was pleased to
organize the final details of Lady Bradwell’s party into complete readiness.
    Mounting the stairs to her room that evening to dress for
the party, Rowena at last allowed herself some of the old, breathless
anticipation before a party, amusing herself with outlandish images of
hairstyles and ribbons. In her room she found her best evening dress, a silk
muslin in lavender, lavishly sprigged in