When Angels Fall Read Online Free PDF

store sold everything from rye flour and Chinese tea to cashmere shawls and pruning shears. This was where she had bought Evvie’s bonnet—shamefully on credit, but Mr. Bishop would not take no for an answer—and where they came to pick up their mail in the tiny village of Nodding Knoll. Lissa also loved the fact that the little store boasted no less than nine resident felines. The Bishops were notorious for putting up strays.
    Mr. Bishop was a neatly groomed, short man, and hiswife—whom Lissa suspected as the cat lover—was as kindhearted as she was plump. The Bishops made an odd couple, for Mrs. Bishop outweighed her husband by at least six stone. But anyone who ever met Mathilde Bishop was immediately taken in by her warmth, and Mr. Bishop, Lissa had surmised, had long ago fallen under his wife’s spell. He adored her.
    “Good morning, ladies.” Mrs. Bishop, her gold-gray hair neatly arranged in sausage curls, sailed toward them. She immediately grasped Evvie’s hand and patted it.
    “Mrs. Bishop,” Evvie acknowledged, smiling brilliantly.
    “We’re going to browse, I think. But we’ve come for Sophie’s post though. Is it in?” Lissa inquired.
    “Yes, it is, my dear. I shall get Mr. Bishop to fetch it for you this minute.” The woman released Evvie’s hand. She then added enticingly, “We have a few new toilet waters, girls. Why don’t you dears look there first?”
    Lissa needed no prodding. She was already leading Evvie to the dark oak counter where the perfumes were displayed. Both girls loved the Mercantile even if, now, most of their purchases were made with their imaginations rather than their purses.
    Lissa gently moved a fat gray tom from his sleeping quarters on the counter and handed an open bottle to Evvie. “Smell this. It’s ‘Passel’s Oil of Cloves.’ What do you think?”
    Evvie took one whiff and wrinkled her nose. Even the tom made a face and backed away.
    “Too strong?” Lissa replaced the bottle onto a blue willow platter crammed with vials. “How is this? This is ‘Linsey’s Violet Water.’ ”
    “Too sweet!” Evvie turned that one down too.
    “This is it. ‘Gray’s One Hundred Roses.’ ”
    “Yes, this
is
the one. Much better.” Her sister brought the bottle to her nose a second time, but she was stopped when Lissa put a warning hand on her arm.
    “Oh, Evvie, don’t start but there’s a man watching you,” she whispered.
    “A man?” Evvie blushed quite prettily. “There are other customers in here?”
    “He just walked in. He’s browsing by the gent’s coat catalogs, but I daresay, he doesn’t buy his frock coats from them. He’s much too well dressed.” Lissa tightened her grip on her sister’s arm. Her glance darted across the store, then she whispered, “Oh, Evvie, don’t move. He’s staring quite boldly now.
Quite
boldly.”
    Evvie colored profusely. “Oh, Lissa, he must be staring at you, not me! I’m the mousy one . . .”
    “Pooh! You’re a beauty. And he is staring at you. Let me look again.” Casually she took a perfume bottle and lifted it to her nose. Her sparkling blue eyes slid to one side and she took another covert glance at the mysterious gentleman who seemed so interested in them.
    “What does he look like?” Evvie whispered.
    For Evvie’s sake, Lissa made her description as detailed as she could. “He’s rather handsome. Quite handsome actually. He’s tall and wears spectacles, but those make him look very intelligent and dignified. He possesses a rather classic Englishman’s face. He has blond hair. Let me see . . .” She stole another glance. “And he hardly looks forty but I would guess that to be his age for he does possess some lines around his eyes and mouth.”
    “I wonder who he is. You’ve never seen him before?”
    “Not that I can remember. However, something does seem familiar about him. Perhaps Mother and Father knew him. I don’t know.” She took another peek at the gentleman but this time he