The Magnificent Masquerade Read Online Free PDF

was so silent she could hear the ticking of the grandfather clock in the
hallway outside the closed door. Time began to stretch so that the space
between each tick of the clock became interminable. The silence thickened and
made the air oppressive. Kitty suddenly decided she could bear it no longer.
"If you've sent for me because of the poor, undernourished little terrier I've
been keeping in the tool shed," she blurted out hurriedly, "I hope
you understand that if I hadn't found it, it would have starved or been mauled
by the wheels of an unheeding carriage."
    Miss Marchmont's lips twitched in what an
impartial observer might have described as amusement but what appeared to Kitty
as annoyance. "So you've been keeping a dog in the tool shed, eh?"
    "It's only a puppy," she corrected,
automatically defensive. Then she blinked as the import of the headmistress's
remark dawned on her. "Oh, blast!" she exclaimed. "You didn't
know about it, did you?"
    "No, I did not."
    The girl wanted to kick herself. Why had she
permitted her nervousness to make her a blabbermouth? She felt her cheeks
redden in embarrassment. "Then why-?"
    "Why did I send for you? Try another
guess." Kitty clenched her fingers and swore to herself she would not be
tricked again. "I have no idea, ma'am." Miss Marchmont leaned
forward. "No idea at all?"
    "No!" She looked at her inquisitor
directly in the eye.
    "None."
    Miss Marchmont resorted to her lorgnette again.
"You're quite certain?"
    "Quite!" Kitty was prepared to
outstare the headmistress for as long as she had to. The silence no longer
frightened her.
    She stared stoically back at Miss Marchmont's
impassive face. But after a moment or two, she realized she was no match for
the lorgnette. The glasses glinted with reflected light and seemed to the
nervous girl to be sending out evil rays that could penetrate her soul. Her
eyes fell. "At least I don't think it could be the ..."
    “the-?" Miss Marchmont prodded.
    “-the play?"
    "The play?" Miss Marchmont's
expression remained unreadable.
    "It isn't meant to offend, you know,"
Kitty assured her hastily. "It's only intended to be a series of gentle
gibes-"
    "Ah, yes. Gentle gibes, to be sure.
Against-?"
    "Only twitting the faculty and ...
yourself. If you found anything offensive in it, it can be changed, I promise
you. Why, we haven't even begun rehearsals yet. No one's even read it yet,
except Clara... and she's only read the opening act."
    "I'm much relieved to hear it," Miss
Marchmont murmured, amusement now quite apparent in her eyes.
    Kitty recognized the glint and winced.
"Dash it all, I'm ten ways a fool! You didn't know about the play either,
did you?" "No, I'm afraid not," Miss Marchmont admitted. Kitty
exploded in self-disgust. "Confound it! I've confessed to two additional
crimes-just handed them to you on a platter!-and I still don't know what crime
you've called me down to punish me for!"
    Miss Marchmont’s face seemed to fall. “Heavens,
child,” she exclaimed in surprise, "I don't only see my pupils to inflict
punishment.”
    "In my case you do." Kitty sighed.
    "Do I?" Miss Marchmont stared at
Kitty thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose that's true. I hadn't realized ... I
wonder if that comment isn't a greater reflection of my shortcomings than
yours," she said, more to herself than the girl before her. "I don't
mean to imply that I haven't deserved it," Kitty said, suddenly finding
herself unwilling to let Miss Marchmont take the blame.
    "That also is true. You have been a most
devilish prankster." The headmistress's tone was, of all things, quite
affectionate. "But I haven't sent for you this time to discuss a
prank-,"
    Kitty looked up in astonishment. "You
haven't? Then why have you sent for me, ma'am?"
    "Are you sure you have nothing else to
confess before I tell you?"
    "Yes, ma'am," the girl said, grinning
ruefully, "very sure."
    "Then please turn your attention to
this." Miss Marchmont picked up a sealed letter that had been lying on the
desk