The Waltzing Widow/Smith Read Online Free PDF

“You left here three hours ago.”
    “Of course not, Uncle. I ain’t a complete flat, you know. I took the ladies to Milhaven for lunch.”
    The serene smile on Bigelow’s face was the last straw. “You damned cawker!” his uncle exploded. “Dragging a fast widow over to Milhaven, and your mama not even there.”
    “I never got her alone for a minute. Mrs. Percy’s chaperon was with us the whole time. A very respectable old dame, dull as ditch water.”
    Lady Sara rose and put a restraining hand on his arm. “Oh, my dear Anthony, I tremble to think what your dear mama will say.” The trouble, of course, was that his dear mama would not say a word. She was as big a fool as her son, and with no papa in the house, the pair of them would be easily fleeced.
    “She wouldn’t say anything,” Bigelow informed them. “There’s nothing wrong with Mrs. Percy. She’s very nice. They hadn’t a bit of food in the cottage. It was the only thing to do. I’m sorry I hadn’t thought of it sooner, for Pikey didn’t put on much of a spread for us, though she’ll do better another time when I’ve given her warning.”
    “There will not be another time,” Avedon said sternly. “If some loose piece of baggage thinks to snap up a title for herself by coming here, she is very much mistaken.”
    Bigelow flew to his feet in defense. “Well, if that ain’t just like you, Uncle. Getting astride your high horse and you’ve never so much as cast a glance on her. She’s a jolly nice girl. Tell him, Sal. You saw her. She’s nothing like Mrs. Lacey, if that’s what has you in the boughs.”
    His aunt disappointed him. “I remarked a certain resemblance, now I come to think of it. Something around the eyes ...”
    Avedon’s face turned livid. “She’s some kin to Lacey. That wretch sent her sister or cousin here to show me a lesson!”
    Bigelow laughed a tinny laugh. “Now do be sensible, Uncle. Mrs. Lacey don’t have a sister, and if she did, she wouldn’t have nice brown eyes like Mrs. Percy. She’d have blue ones. The two are nothing alike, I promise you.”
    “She will get her nice brown eyes out of here all the same,” Avedon said firmly. “I won’t put up with another month like the past one, worrying about you. I haven’t cashed her check yet, and I shan’t. I’ll tell her we’ve changed our minds.”
    Lady Sara thought of the six servants and the luggage and the traveling carriage. She remembered the dairy and vegetable produce to be sold, and she weighed the matter carefully.
    “No, Adrian,” she said sadly. “You sent a letter accepting the offer. That constitutes a contract, you must know. She sent the check in good faith, and if you failed to cash it and start collecting your interest, it is in no way her fault. And in any case, she is not so bad. The sister-in-law appeared sensible. Just keep Tony away from her, and we shall rub along well enough. We shan’t do more than nod to them.”
    “And, of course, send down our farm cart every day,” Avedon added snidely.
    “That is business, dear. They can make nothing of that.” A troublesome memory of having invited the ladies to her garden party came to pester Lady Sara. But she had also said they would meet before that time. She would take care that they did not meet, to let the ladies know they were being hinted away.
    Avedon rarely looked to his family for guidance and did not do so now. He would not cash the check. He would monitor the situation, and if Mrs. Percy proved troublesome, he would dispatch her.
    “I don’t want you hanging around Rose Cottage, Tony,” he said severely. A glance at his nephew’s fatuous grin was enough to tell him the words were not even going in one ear and out the other. They were sailing high over his head. “Do you hear me? Not one penny of the five hundred rent do you see if I hear of their being at Milhaven again.”
    “Of course, Uncle.”
    Bigelow had already set up a rendezvous for the next morning at