The Magnificent Masquerade Read Online Free PDF Page A

himself "until such time as we, her
parents, shall arrive to escort her home to embark on the wedding
preparations."
    Lord Birkinshaw added a post scriptum to Miss
Marchmont in which he wrote that he would be "eternally obliged" to
her if she would take the trouble to provide for his daughter a suitable
abigail to accompany her on the journey and to stay with her throughout the
visit.
    The letter to Kitty conveyed the same basic
information and-to ensure that Kitty would take the news seriously had the same
firmness of tone. But Lord and Lady Birkinshaw were at heart quite loving
parents (despite the fact that the letter might have seemed to an impartial
observer impressive evidence to the contrary), and they couldn't bring
themselves to dispatch the letter without enclosing some sign of their
affection. Thus his lordship appended a post scriptum to Kitty as well,
informing her that a large trunk, in which her mother would place many charming
new bits of finery for Kitty to wear in the country and in which he would tuck
twenty guineas for pocket money, would be strapped atop the carriage he was
sending to convey her to Suffolk. With these provisions, he wrote, he hoped he
had anticipated all her needs.
    "There!" he said to his wife when his
labors over the letters had been completed. "That should do the job well
enough." Lady Birkinshaw sighed guiltily. "Poor Kitty. Don't you
think she'll find it rather cold?"
    His lordship ran his eyes over the sheet in
concern. "Perhaps it is rather cold," he agreed, taking up his quill
again. He chewed the tip thoughtfully for a long moment and then smiled as the
solution came to him. Laboriously he added one more sentence: Your mother and I
desire, of course, to express our very best wishes for your happiness.
    Chapter Three
    Kitty inched her head round the door fearfully
and peered inside. But there was nothing frightening about the head mistress's
study; in fact, the room's atmosphere seemed permeated with a blessed
stillness. The afternoon sunlight poured in through the room's huge window in glistening
streaks, covering the mahogany desk, the carpet before it, and the very motes
in the air with gold. But the chair behind the desk was empty. To the nervous
girl in the doorway it seemed like the setting of a scene in a play, the chair
in the center of the spotlight awaiting the entrance of the villainess. But she
soon saw that the villainess was already on stage. Miss Marchmont was standing
at the window reading a lengthy, closely written letter. The headmistress's
appearance was, as always very intimidating, especially to the young and the
guilty. She was painfully gaunt; six feet tall, she was appropriately called
Betty Beanstalk by the pupils when they spoke of her behind her back. She had
hollow cheeks, a high forehead, and a prominent nose, and the corkscrew curls
which framed her face did little to soften its hawk like masculinity. The look
of a hawk was especially noticeable at this moment, for Miss Marchmont was
peering at her letter with a particularly angry frown.
    Kitty had made no sound during her examination
of the scene, but some instinct told Miss Marchmont she was there. "Well,
come in, come in!" the headmistress snapped, not looking up from her
letter. But as soon as Kitty closed the door behind her, Miss Marchmont lifted
the lorgnette which hung on a chain round her neck and stared at the girl
through it. "Ah, Kitty, my dear," she said with the grimace that was
her way of smiling but which was often construed by the young and the guilty to
be a frown, "do sit down."
    Kitty dropped a curtsey, mumbled a greeting,
and sank nervously upon the chair facing the desk. "You's-sent for me,
ma'am?"
    "Yes, I did. Do you have any idea
why?"
    "No, ma'am."
    Miss Marchmont sat down at her place behind the
desk and fixed her eyes on Kitty's face. "Are you sure?"
    Kitty's eyes fell. "Almost sure." She
twisted her hands nervously on her lap. She took a breath and then another. The
room