Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel Read Online Free PDF

match, so she
ended up agreeing to invite several high society people, ones that they were
all certain would want to come. When the line broke, without even so much as a
goodbye being said, Ethyl smiled.
    It
was sort of fierce.
    "There.
That should show them. If I support you in having a bizarre set of guests a
time or two, and let people know about it, then people will attend and I can
write the whole thing off to your youthful exuberance. People will come, as you
said, to see Lizzy Farris, and at the same time, still be attending at my home, served to our normal standards." She looked nearly smug for a bit,
and Beth nodded far more happily about the idea than she'd seemed before, but
then the older woman froze in place, her eyes going slightly wide suddenly.
    "Or,
I mean, if you don't wish me to put it that way, I can back out now. We can
claim that you're working, since you mentioned that..."
    It
seemed genuine, but that didn't mean much. Gwen didn't let her slight
irritation show, or let herself seem sullen.
     "Whatever
works for you, mom." The woman had asked her to use that form of address
before, though, honestly she'd said to call her mother . They all knew
what the word meant for some reason. It was a part of their culture that Gwen
hadn't seen yet though. Everyone else used either the full word or mum.
    That
didn't keep Ethyl from beaming at the moment however. She actually moved in and
gave Gwen a little hug.
    "Thank
you dear. I know that I shouldn't have presumed like that, but it was such a
good idea. Mine that is. Yours wasn't horrible, but I do think that it might
not translate perfectly to this social climate. People are being a bit
conservative right now, after everything. Shall we set it for three weeks from
now? I can start on the planning and invitations. We can hold it in the main
gardens, I think." She nearly walked off then, as Beth and Gwen stood
there, looking at her as if bemused by her antics.
    It
was good to know that Gwen wasn't the only one to feel that way. Sometimes it
really seemed like everyone else was on the same page all the time and she was
the one constantly outside, standing by the window and looking in, like a Dickens'
street orphan. Alone.
    Not
this time, since clearly Beth had no clue what to really make of the older
woman at all either. Shared confusion was still sharing.
    It counted .
    She
waved at the woman and then moved over to the door, gesturing for Beth to come
along.
    "We've
packed, right now we need to get to practice, since we don't know when we'll be
getting another chance. We'll contact you on the telestat every few days or so,
if possible. If not, I'll send letters. I know, letters are the polite way to
do it, but really, how many repetitions of 'We're on a train. It's nice. Not
dead yet.' do you really want cluttering up your desk?" She had one of
those. A great writing desk, and actual filing cabinets, all made of wood.
Those were mainly for social correspondence. The business normally went to
Robert's offices.
    Wherever
those were. Gwen needed to learn about that. Not that she planned to take over
the business or anything, but that kind of thing was a lot more family oriented
here, and if she was going to claim to be part of theirs, she had to pull her
own weight. She was nearly certain that idea had come from a movie or
television show, but it made sense to her. It might even make some to the
people on the Telesar that thought that the evil Vernors were basically holding
her hostage.
    The
latest bit that she'd caught, a few days before, had it that they wanted an
heir and were planning to force her into a marriage to make sure one was
provided. Oddly enough, the public had seemed to be split on that one, as far
as she could tell. Half of them were shocked at the idea, and mortified that it
would be suggested by anyone. The others mainly flipped their hands up and said
that it sounded like they were taking their parenting duties seriously, which
was the proper thing