The Spinster and the Rake Read Online Free PDF Page B

a little more careful, my dear,” she said instead in a prosaic tone of voice. “What I found out others can also discover.”
    Felicity caught her hand between hers, her dark eyes beseeching. “Then you won’t tell my parents?”
    “Tell them what? That you’ve done some charity work for the poor people in Stepney? I wouldn’t think that would interest them all that much.”
    “Bless you, Gilly.” Her voice throbbed with intensity.
    “In the meantime, do you suppose we might go into the shop?” she inquired, merriment dancing in her blue eyes.
    Felicity looked about her in surprise. “We’re here already?”
    “We’ve been standing outside Madame Racette’s for the last five minutes, attracting no end of attention. If we might go in . . . ?”
    THE MISSES REDFERN were some of Madame Racette’s most honored customers, and Madame herself always waited upon them, no matter who else was at that moment enjoying her patronage. To be sure, Miss Gillian Redfern could never be persuaded to wear anything but drab grays and navy blues, all of the most depressing cut, but her taste was unerring when it came to the dressing of her beautiful young niece. Now there was a lady it was a pleasure to dress, not like some of the fat old harridans who came to her shop demanding dresses that were designed for girls twenty years younger and twenty pounds lighter.
    And there had been a ray of hope where Miss Gilliam Redfern was concerned. Two weeks ago, upon returning from a visit to the country, she had unexpectedly chosen an absolutely charming dress in nile green, cut daringly low for Miss Redfern, though boringly high for most of Madame Racette’s customers. Madame Racette had had visions of a complete transformation of the elder Miss Redfern’s boring wardrobe, though such a grand order had yet to materialize. But hope sprang eternal, and when her assistant came to the private showing room and whispered of the Redferns’ arrival, she made a hasty excuse to the saturnine gentleman and his companion and rushed from the room, promising to return momentarily.
    “Ah, Mademoiselle Redfern!” she cried as she swept into the room, two mannequins in her choicest creations trailing along behind. “What an honor it is to see you this lovely spring afternoon. Is it too much to hope I might interest you in another dress? The one Babette is wearing I might have designed with you in mind. Such a color was made to be worn with hair such as yours. Notice the sweep of the skirt, the embroidered detail on the bodice.” Madame Racette was too experienced a businesswoman to miss the light of covetousness that filled Gillian’s blue eyes.
    Gillian controlled her sudden longing. The dress was too young, the color, a soft aqua, was outrageous, and as for the cut—there was no bodice at all. She would look like a courtesan. “No, madame, I have not come for another dress,” she said nobly, looking away. “I merely needed some ribbons to go with my last dress.”
    “Ribbons!” Madame dismissed them with an airy gesture. “Look at this dress, mademoiselle. It is you! Surely you cannot deny that you would look ravissant in it.”
    “I wouldn’t deny it, but I also have no intention of purchasing such an indecent dress.”
    “Oh, Gillian, it’s beautiful!” Felicity added her unwanted opinion. “You would look stunning in it, you know you would.”
    “Listen to your niece, mademoiselle. That one, she has the eye, just like you.”
    Gillian felt her conviction weaken. It was a monstrously attractive dress. “What is the price, madame?”
    Quickly calculating the added prestige the sale would give her, she figured the cost of the gown, multiplied it by ten, subtracted five pounds, and named a staggering figure.
    “That settles it, then. It is far too dear. The ribbons, madame,” Gillian said firmly.
    “But, Gillian, it would be so beautiful on you!” Felicity wailed. “You are mad to turn it down.”
    Gillian allowed herself