Wentworth Hall Read Online Free PDF

high cheekbones and delicate nose. With her fashionable finger-curls and chignon combined with a graceful yet athletic gait, Jessica Fitzhugh seemed to Lila to be the height of modern womanhood. And as such, Lila found the more sophisticated and somewhat older Jessica to be utterly intimidating and dauntingly unapproachable. It didn’t help matters that Jessica mostly kept to herself. Lila thought she must be homesick and also missing her father terribly. Nora confided that she thought Jessica was simply a snob—pointing to Jessica’s constant sour expression as proof. But Lila didn’t want to believe it. Maybe that was just how Jessica’s face looked in repose. She couldn’t help that.
    But if Lila could befriend Jessica she would have the inside track on Teddy. She’d never seen a brother and sister who were closer, probably because they were also twins. Besides that, it would be nice to have a friend at Wentworth Hall, someone to fill the void Maggie had left since deciding she was too grownup to bother with Lila any longer.
    There didn’t seem any way into Jessica’s world, though. She spent all her time with Teddy and if he was off trailing after Maggie, she busied herself in her room either reading or scribbling in a red notebook she seemed to carry with her everywhere. But one afternoon Lila came upon Jessica studying the oil portraits that lined the upstairs hallway.
    “That’s my brother Wesley,” Lila said, sidling up beside Jessica, who was standing below the portrait of the oldest Darlington sibling and gazing up at it.
    “Really,” Jessica remarked without turning toward Lila but continuing to inspect the painting.
    “I call him Wes, for short. He studies at Oxford University, though right now he’s in the states with a school chum. I miss him terribly. He dotes on me. We’re very close, just like you and Teddy.”
    Jessica turned to look at Lila, her face twisted into a disdainful smile. “I doubt it.”
    Lila hadn’t been prepared for such a condescending response. “What do you doubt?” she asked, surprised.
    “That your relationship resembles my bond with Teddy in any way. We’re twins.”
    “Well, of course,” Lila agreed, feeling horribly foolish and hoping her face wasn’t turning red. “I suppose one can’t ever understand what it’s like to be a twin unless one is, oneself, a twin.”
    “Exactly,” Jessica said, returning her gaze to the portrait of Wesley. “I must say he’s not bad-looking.”
    “Who, Wes? Oh, no, Wes is very handsome. All the girls think so.”
    “How do you know? Do they confide in you?” Jessica scoffed.
    “Sometimes,” Lila insisted, her voice rising a bit. This was not going as planned. Why was Jessica being so disagreeable? She hoped Jessica wouldn’t press her for an instance of this happening because she couldn’t think of one. Even if no girl had ever actually told Lila she admired Wes, Lila could tell that girls liked her olderbrother. It was obvious from the coy and giggly way they acted in his presence. “You can see from his portrait that he’s handsome, can’t you?” Lila added. What more proof did she need?
    “Hmmm,” Jessica hummed as she considered the question, her chin still tilted up to Wesley’s image.
    Lila couldn’t believe that the question of Wes’s good looks required this much consideration. “What about him disturbs you?” she challenged, instantly regretting the touch of peevishness that had crept into her tone.
    “No… no… you’re right. In this portrait he’s very handsome, but portrait painters make their commissions by flattering their subjects, don’t they?”
    “I assure you, this is what he looks like,” Lila maintained.
    “Take the case of the portrait of your mother hanging over the fireplace in the living room for instance,” Jessica countered. “She doesn’t really look like that now, does she? I mean, there’s absolutely no sign of that double chin of hers and she’s quite a bit