Undesirable Liaison Read Online Free PDF Page B

securely as it had been in the greatcoat dress, came alive in
her imagination, burning into her flesh. What had she not suffered,
poor lost soul? A lady brought so low as to lead the life of a
courtesan.
    Flo’s breath
deserted her, and she was obliged to pause, grasping for support at
the railing bordering one of the houses.
    There but
for the grace of God …
    So nearly had
she been caught in the self-same trap. Dragged down to the hideous
ignominy that had scarred them all—Mama, herself and the dear
darling girl for whom she was now the sole support. And Belinda
must never know.
    ‘Flossie! Flossie ! What’s the matter with you?’
    Gazing through
misted eyes, Florence found her sister’s features close before her
own. The voice had been impatient, but the blue eyes were fearful.
Flo dredged up a semblance of control.
    ‘Nothing… I
will be well in a moment.’
    ‘But what’s the
matter?’ persisted Bel. ‘Are you ill?’
    Florence shook
her head, frantically searching her mind for a reasonable excuse.
She found it.
    ‘The smoke… it
made the room close. I felt a little faint.’
    It did not
wholly convince.
    ‘But you never
faint.’
    This was true.
Blessed with an excellent constitution, Flo had ever been the
nurse, through both her mother’s ailing last years and the normal
complaints of childhood that had afflicted Belinda. Pressed for a
better solution, her fuzzy mind delivered a more potent
explanation.
    ‘To tell you
the truth, Bel, I am saddened by the lady’s situation.’ It had the
merit of partial accuracy, but her sister’s mobile face gave
evidence that she did not share such feelings. Flo pursued her
theme. ‘It is no pleasant thing to die in poverty, neglected by
one’s friends.’
    Belinda’s mouth
formed a pout. ‘Like Mama, you mean.’
    The comparison
came perilously close. Thank heaven the child had no recognition of
it! But the suggestion was advantageous.
    ‘A little, yes.
Perhaps it reminded me.’
    ‘Well, but it
was you, Flossie, who said we ought not to grieve overmuch. You
said it was a mercy for Mama.’
    ‘I did,’ agreed
Flo, reaching out to grasp the girl’s hand, ‘but one is not always
master of one’s feelings.’
    To her relief,
Belinda accepted this. ‘I suppose it is a trifle sad for the lady.
But I am so much interested in her ruby I can’t quite feel it.’
    So candid and
typical a confession could not but bring a smile to Florence’s
lips. ‘I dare say the lady knows nothing of it, so you need feel no
guilt on that account.’
    Tucking her
sister’s fingers into her arm, and taking up the basket, which she
had allowed to fall to the flagway, she urged Belinda onward.
    ‘What do you
mean to do now?’ asked her sister after they had been walking for a
few minutes. The hopeful note crept back into her voice. ‘I mean,
there’s nothing else you can do, is there? You’ve done everything
possible to find out the owner of the jewel, and Lady Langriville
is dead, so that—’
    ‘Langriville!’
exclaimed Florence. ‘That was it. Thank you, Bel, for the name had
wholly escaped my memory.’
    Belinda
groaned. ‘Then you do mean to do more.’
    Flo had to
laugh. ‘Dearest, I am as sorry as you, believe me. I wish I might,
in all conscience, keep the jewel.’
    ‘But I don’t
see why you can’t, Flossie. After all—’
    ‘Pray don’t try
to persuade or tempt me,’ begged Florence, but without much hope of
being attended to. ‘We have been over all this before, and—’
    ‘Yes, but we
didn’t know the owner was dead before,’ interrupted her sister,
beginning to grow petulant. ‘I must say, I think you carry a thing
too far, Flo. It’s plain as day there’s no one who cared two pins
what happened to that lady—except for the horrid Pinxton person,
and she obviously didn’t know about the ruby—’
    ‘Bel, that is
enough,’ said Florence, exasperated. ‘If I listened to you, I might
as well call myself a thief and be done with it.