The Hellfire Club Read Online Free PDF Page A

Such an inspiring writer, you know. He always inspires
me,
anyhow. I don’t know why people never took to
Journey into Light.
” She gave Nora a mystical smile and leaned forward to tap the book approvingly with her thick fingers. Her hand drifted sideways to capture the tumbler and carry it to her mouth. She took a good swallow, then another. “You’re not one of those people who think
Journey into Light
is a terrible falling off, are you?” Daisy set down the drink and snatched up the cigarettes and lighter.
    “I never thought of it that way.”
    Daisy lit a cigarette, inhaled, and as she expelled smoke waved it away. “No, of course not.” She tossed the pack onto the table. “You couldn’t, not with Davey around. I remember when
he
read it for the first time.”
    Someone knocked at the door. “Your potion. Come in, Maria.”
    The maid brought in the Bloody Mary, and when she proffered it to Nora her eyes sparkled. She was pleased to see Daisy enjoying herself.
    “When will things be ready?”
    “Half an hour. I make fresh mayonnaise for the lobster salad.”
    “Make lots, Davey likes your mayonnaise.”
    “Mr. Chancel, too.”
    “Mr. Chancel likes everything,” Daisy said, “unless it interferes with sleep or business.” She hesitated for a moment. “Could you bring us fresh drinks in about fifteen minutes? Nora’s looks so
watery.
And have Jeffrey open the wine just before we come down.”
    Nora waited for Maria to leave the room, then turned to find Daisy half-smiling, half-scrutinizing her through a murk of cigarette smoke. “Speaking of Hugo Driver, is there some kind of trouble with his estate?”
    Daisy raised her eyebrows.
    “Davey got up in the middle of the night to watch the movie of
Night Journey.
He said that Alden wanted him to take care of some kind of problem.”
    “A problem?”
    “Maybe he said it was a nuisance.”
    At these words Daisy lowered her eyebrows, lodged the cigarette in her mouth, and picked up her glass. She nodded slowly several times before withdrawing the cigarette, blowing out smoke, and taking another mouthful of the drink. She licked her lips. “I always enjoy your visits to my little cell.”
    “Did you ever meet Hugo Driver?”
    “Oh no, he was dead before Alden and I were married. Alden met him two or three times, I believe, when he came here for visits. In fact, Hugo Driver slept in this room.”
    “Is that why you use it?” Nora glanced around the long, narrow room, trying to imagine it as it had been in the thirties.
    “Could be.” Daisy shrugged.
    “But is your own work like Driver’s—is that the kind of thing you’ve been working on?”
    “I hardly know anymore,” Daisy said.
    “I guess I’m a little curious.”
    “I guess I am, too!”
    “Has anybody ever read what you’ve been writing?”
    Daisy sat up straight and glanced at the bookshelves next to the fireplace, giving Nora a view of soft, flat white hair and the outline of a bulging cheek. Then she turned to look at her in a way unreadable but not at all vague. “A long time ago, my agent read a couple of chapters. But over the years, we
. . . drifted . . .
away from each other. And it’s changed a lot since then. Several times. You’d have to say it changed completely, several times.”
    “Your agent wasn’t very helpful.”
    Daisy’s cheeks widened in a brief, cheerless smile. “I forgave him when he died. It was the least both of us could do.” She finished off her drink, dragged on the cigarette, and blew out a thin shaft of smoke that bounced like a traveling cloud off the vase.
    “And since then?”
    Daisy tilted her head. “Are you asking to read my manuscript, Nora? Excuse me. I should say, are you offering to read it?”
    “I just thought . . .” Nora did her best to look placating. Her mother-in-law continued to examine her out of eyes that seemed to have become half their normal size. “I just wondered if . . . if a reader might be helpful to you. I’m