The Impossible Ward Read Online Free PDF Page A

thoughtfully into the flames in the fireplace his lip curled with amused contempt as he considered her tactics. Obviously she had no intention of allowing him to discuss his plan to remove her to Somerset before she had made her own objections known to her grandfather. Well, much good it would do her in the long run. If the old man should prove obstructive, he held the winning card in his control of her assets. Not that he desired to use coercion on a man with whom he already felt an instinctive rapport. Mr. O’Doyle struck him as being a genuinely likable person. It was otherwise with his granddaughter however. He stirred and kicked a log with unacknowledged irritation. Never had he met a less prepossessing female! It was not that she was particularly ill-favored. Frowning in concentration, he attempted to bring her features before his mind’s eye with minimal success. All he could recall was that she was dark skinned, which must be reckoned a serious flaw, and dark haired, what he had seen of it, for she had worn a concealing cap. In fact all her dark drab clothing had better served the purpose of concealing than enhancing any claims to good looks that she might possess. Of course she had been working when he met her. No doubt her appearance would be considerably improved when she joined them for supper. He devoutly hoped her attitude would have undergone a similar change for the better, for he found her calm impassivity singularly disaffecting.
    However when Lady Marianne reappeared, Justin’s optimistic prophecies were both found to have been based on wishful thinking. Certainly she had made an evening toilette, but any overall improvement in her appearance was too slight to be of any significance. She was still depressingly garbed in black, this time in a heavy, stiff silk gown, shiny from wear, which would have proclaimed its venerable age had not the outmoded style made that distinction redundant. Another cap, of yellowed lace and muslin this time, unbecomingly covered all of her hair except right in the front where the dark hair grew from a point in the center of her forehead. His eyes ran over her measuringly and he sighed silently. Scrawny as a plucked crow! As his assessing glance met hers for an instant, he would have taken his oath that her dark eyes were filled with a sort of triumphant mockery and his own narrowed thoughtfully, but he kept his expression blandly civil and offered his arm to lead her into another small but lovely apartment where a plain though beautifully prepared meal awaited them.
    They were served by a very young girl who appeared nervously fascinated by the presence of a noble guest. At one point she dropped a plate of vegetables and was only prevented from going off into tears by Lady Marianne’s quelling look and calm words. As she fumblingly cleared away the mess of spilled peas, Justin smiled comfortingly and the girl’s comely face brightened. He missed the faint surprise that fleetingly animated his hostess’ deliberately aloof features.
    Though the game pie he was eating would rank among the best he had ever tasted, the evening as a social event was destined to be memorable only for the air of discomfort that his practiced ease of manner could do nothing to dispel. He maintained a determined flow of polite conversation, intermittently aided by Mr. O’Doyle, who was pleasant but inclined to go off into periodic reveries. The girl contributed as little as bare civility would permit. At first he wondered if she might be suffering from a disabling shyness which could not be wondered at, living retired as she likely did, but after a thoroughly exasperating hour of attempting to set her at her ease and draw her into the conversation, he came to the uncharitable conclusion that she suffered from nothing save an unreasonable dislike of himself and an ill-natured determination to resist all of his conversational overtures.
    This conclusion received unneeded support when they removed to