The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place Read Online Free PDF Page A

along and leave me to my…”
    “Well, never mind my relatives.” Pocked Louise acted as though she couldn’t even hear the doctor’s rant. “Now, where might I find better liver pamphlets?”
    While this scientific discussion was underway, Smooth Kitty elbowed Stout Alice. “Where is Elinor?” she whispered.
    Alice pointed toward the bedroom armoire. “In there.”
    Kitty’s jaw dropped. “You don’t mean—”
    Alice nodded. “Inside. With Mr. Godding. He wouldn’t stay put otherwise.”

CHAPTER 3
    Down the hallway, Dull Martha opened the front door to find Miss Letitia Fringle, the spinster choir mistress, leaning on her polished oak cane.
    “Miss Fringle!” Dear Roberta said, with genuine delight. “How nice of you to stop by. Won’t you come in? Oh!”
    Disgraceful Mary Jane had trodden hard upon Roberta’s toe. Dear Roberta’s sweet and generous impulses could be a trial at times, especially when they so utterly eclipsed her brain. No power under heaven could evict nosy Miss Fringle from a house where she intended to stay, not once she’d been invited past the threshold. She had that in common with vampires.
    “Good evening, girls.” Miss Fringle squinted at them as she wobbled over the f lagstones. “I’m here for the birthday party. I brought elderberry cordial and a rhubarb tart. And, I brought the sheet of practice music I promised to your headmistress. Patricia Rumsey says she’s to sing at the social on Wednesday, and I say her voice wants coaching.”
    “I’m so sorry, Miss Fringle,” Mary Jane said. “Mrs. Plackett is unwell and has taken to bed for the evening.”
    “Nonsense,” Miss Fringle replied. “She invited me for a party, and I expect a party. My niece spent all afternoon baking this tart. Where is Mrs. Plackett’s brother, anyway? Why she cooked up the idea of a surprise party, I don’t know. Surprises can give heart attacks. Well, no matter. Let’s go inside. If she’s unwell, I shall condole with her.”
    “I think you really ought not to,” Mary Jane persisted. “You could catch a fever.”
    “Which one are you? Can’t see well in this poor light.” The choir mistress peered at them each in turn, then addressed Mary Jane. “You’re one of the pretty ones. A sight too pretty, I’d say, and that leads to vanity. Give me a plain, clean-living girl any day, like this one.” She gestured to Dull Martha, who gasped in wounded astonishment.
    “Fringles don’t take fevers,” the choir mistress continued. “Step aside, girls.” Her cane thumped against the f loorboards as she advanced down the hall. “How is your tablecloth for the social coming along? The girls at Mrs. Usher’s school are already done with theirs. Such fine work.”
    Mary Jane sniffed disdainfully. Those Usher girls might stitch well, but they had no sense of style.
    “What do we do?” Dear Roberta whispered to Dull Martha. “She mustn’t come in.”
    “Then let’s stop her.” Without any pause, Dull Martha pursued the old woman and plowed into her side, knocking her cane out from under her.
    Mary Jane gasped. “Martha!”
    Miss Fringle shrieked. The thin old woman wobbled like a sail in a tempest. Martha caught her before she could truly fall.
    “My ankle!” the old woman cried. “Sabotage! Violence! Oh, my poor ankle!”
    Doctor Snelling poked his head out from the bedroom. “What’s all this? Miss Fringle, what are you doing here?”
    “Being attacked by this great oaf of a girl,” Miss Fringle replied. “You! What’s your name?”
    “Martha, Miss Fringle,” that young lady obediently replied. “I played the pianoforte at your recital last fall.”
    “Then I should think you’d have the cultivation not to gallop like a savage. Doctor, what a mercy you’re here. Help me to the sofa in the parlor, and see to this ankle, won’t you? Constance won’t mind waiting for my sake.”
    Miss Fringle disentangled herself from Martha, calling her stupid and clumsy and