The Magnificent Masquerade Read Online Free PDF Page B

before her and handed it over to her high-spirited pupil. It was a letter
from her father. Kitty recognized the hand at once, even though he hardly ever
wrote to her. "Good Lord!" she exclaimed, staring at the seal with a
sudden chill in her bones. "Something must have happened at home!"
"There's no need for alarm," Miss Marchmont said. "I, too, have
had a letter from your father, and I am aware of the information your letter
contains." She threw her pupil a speculative glance. "It is possible
you may even consider the news to be quite exciting."
    "Exciting?" A weight seemed to lift
itself from her chest. If her interpretation of Miss Marchmont's manner was
correct, she was not to be punished. Nor was she to be the recipient of tragic
news. She had nothing at all to be worried about. For the first time since
she'd been summoned, she felt her usual, lighthearted self. She was absolved of
past transgressions and was therefore quite ready for life's next adventure. If
this letter promised something exciting, she was quite eager for it, whatever
it was. Or so she thought while she broke the seal. She read the letter twice
before the full import broke upon her. Then she read it once more to make sure
she had not misunderstood. By this time the color had completely receded from
her cheeks. "He cannot mean it!" she muttered, aghast. Miss Marchmont
eyed her curiously. "You do not like your father's plan for you,
then?"
    "Like it?" The girl was
horror-struck. "How can I like it? Would you?"
    "I must admit that I would not. But then,
I was not made for wedded life. I've always been more interested in education
than in matrimony. You, on the other hand, have surely grown up in the
expectation of being wed as soon as you came of age, have you not?"
    "Yes, but I'm not of age. Not yet."
There was a crack in her voice. "This is ... too soon!"
    The headmistress took off her spectacles and
looked at the girl with sincere sympathy. "I am very sorry, Kitty. In my
view, you should at least have been permitted to finish your schooling here before
. . . " She paused, sighed, and lowered her eyes. Lord
    Birkinshaw's letter had made her furious, but
she knew it would do the girl no good to show her feelings. She pulled a
handkerchief from her sleeve and polished her glasses vigorously before she was
able to go on. ". . . before being launched into wedded life. But your
parents seem to have made an irrevocable decision. We have no choice but to
abide by it."
    Kitty's lips trembled. "I's-suppose
so," she said tonelessly. There was no reason to prolong this torture,
Miss Marchmont decided. "We have many things to discuss, my dear."
she said, getting up from her chair, "and much to do before your father's
carnage comes for you. But perhaps you'd like to be alone for a while first, to
pull yourself together."
    "Yes, please, Miss Marchmont," the
girl said, rising also. She dropped a curtsey like an automaton and went
dazedly from the room.
    Emily, who had waited for her in the corridor
despite Kitty's orders to the contrary, noticed her pallor at once.
    "Good heavens, Miss Jessup, was it
something really dreadful?" she asked in a whisper.
    Kitty nodded. "Very dreadful."
    "Oh, dear. She hasn't sentenced you to
Coventry
, has she?"
    "I wish it was only that. A week in the
solitary bedroom would be bearable. At least I'd know that it would soon
end." Emily's brows rose. "Do you mean it's worse? Not ... ? She
couldn't have ... ! You haven't been expelled, have you? Is she sending you
home?"
    "Even worse than that. I am being sent off
to ... to. . She could barely bring herself to utter the word.
    "To where?" Emily prodded.
    "To ..." Kitty's tightly held
self-control deserted her, and she fell into the maid's arms with a choked cry.
"Oh, Emily, how can they have done this to me? I'm not ... ready!"
    "But what is it, miss?" Emily asked,
truly alarmed. "Where are they sending you?"
    "To someplace worse than school, worse
than
Coventry
,
worse even than prison!"