The Saint and the Sinner Read Online Free PDF Page B

manner.
    “What’s wrong with this Parson chap?” she asked. “It seems to me you’re well fitted to be his wife.”
    “That is not true,” Pandora said, “and quite frankly I would rather die than marry him!”
    “I don’t believe it!” Kitty King laughed. “There was never a man yet who was worth dying for! You have to try living with them – that’s much harder!”
    She laughed again, then reached out her hand for the glass of champagne which one of the footmen brought her on a silver salver.
    She took it and, lifting it towards the Earl, said,
    “Here’s to a short life, but a gay one! That’s my motto!”
    The footman offered Pandora a glass. She hesitated for a moment.
    “Have a little champagne,” the Earl said. “I am sure you need it. It must have taken a great deal of courage to come here.”
    “I am very grateful to you,” Pandora said in a low voice.
    “There is no need to be,” he answered, “and I have a feeling that you will very likely regret this impulsive act. But why the hell should I care? It is nothing to me what you do – nothing!”
    He spoke almost violently and Pandora looked at him in surprise.
    Then she told herself that, however he behaved, or anyone else in the house for that matter, she would not criticise.
    She had turned to the Earl in desperation to throw her a lifeline, and she would always be eternally grateful to him for doing so.

Chapter Two
    The house-party arrived a little later, when the Earl and Kitty were still drinking champagne.
    There were three young aristocrats, all with titles, but as they were always addressed by their Christian names –Freddie, Clive, and Richard – Pandora found it difficult to sort them out.
    They had driven down from London each in his own Phaeton, accompanied by three women as ravishing and attractive in their own way as Kitty was.
    Pandora never heard their surnames but it seemed not to matter, as they were usually addressed as “duckie” or “poppet” by their obviously adoring swains.
    The three gentlemen declared that their throats were dry from the dust and they were quite exhausted by the drive.
    More champagne was hurriedly brought in and they toasted the Earl and Kitty with pointed innuendos and in a manner which Pandora felt was a little embarrassing.
    They were, however, all so jolly and so obviously delighted at being at Chart Hall that she found them and their elegant appearance most entertaining.
    Then the door opened and another gentleman appeared. Unlike the others, he was announced by the Butler.
    “Sir Gilbert Longridge, M’Lord!”
    Good-looking and even more smartly arrayed, Sir Gilbert was older than the others.
    Yet, watching him cross the room towards the Earl, Pandora thought there was something about him she disliked.
    She could not quite understand her feelings, but her father had always said she was very perceptive where people and horses were concerned and that he had seldom known her to make a mistake.
    “Alone, Gilbert?” the Earl exclaimed in surprise.
    “Fanny cried off,” Sir Gilbert replied in a disagreeable voice. “Never again shall I waste my time and my money on a woman who cannot keep her appointments. The Duke can have her, for all I care!”
    “He will be delighted,” Freddie said. “Though personally, Gilbert, I would think twice about taking on your cast-offs. You indulge them so outrageously that you price them out of the market.”
    “What is money for, dear boy, except to be spent in enjoyment?” Sir Gilbert asked lazily.
    He looked round the room and his eyes fell on Pandora.
    For a moment he regarded her without speaking. Then he said,
    “Do I perceive that we are now even numbers? How could you be so clairvoyant, my dear Norvin, as to realise I would arrive empty-handed?”
    “This is my cousin, Pandora Stratton,” the Earl said. “I was not expecting her to be one of the party, but she appeared unexpectedly.”
    “What could be more delightful than the