When Angels Fall Read Online Free PDF Page B

was conversing with Mr. Bishop.
    “. . . so sorry. I regret they’ve not come in yet. But I promise to have them before the marquis arrives at Powerscourt. You have my word, Mr. Jones.” Mr. Bishop’s voice boomed clear across the shop.
    “Did you hear, Lissa?” Evvie grasped her arm and whispered. “Jones. He must be the gentleman who is Powerscourt’s estate manager. He’s here seeing to the castle. And Mother and Father surely must have known him for they knew the old marquis quite well. That’s why he seems familiar. Lissa?”
    But Lissa didn’t hear her. The very name Powerscourt stabbed at her heart. It brought up all kinds of emotions that she preferred stayed buried.
    “Lissa?”
    “Yes?” She turned her attention to her sister.
    “Are you thinking of . . . Ivan?” Evvie gently prodded.
    “No.”
    “I see.” Somehow Evvie found her sister’s cheek and patted it comfortingly.
    Feeling almost ill, Lissa put down the perfume bottle and said, “Let’s get Great-aunt Sophie’s post and go home. George will be home from school before we’ve made him supper.”
    “Yes, that’s a grand idea.” Evvie followed her.
    The man named Jones remained in the store, ostensibly looking at cutlery displayed in an old mahogany case. Mr. Bishop was free at this point, however, and when he met Lissa’s eye, he immediately came up to her with their post.
    “Came in good time, ladies. I suppose Old Sophie must be done with her travels for the year.” Mr. Bishop’s baby blue eyes twinkled. “What is she, ninety? Where does she get all that spunk?”
    “She’s an Alcester, Mr. Bishop. You should know that!” Evvie laughed nervously and squeezed her sister’s hand. Gratefully Lissa squeezed back.
    But behind them, the man named Jones was hardly finding the situation amusing. In fact, if anyone had bothered to scrutinize him, they would have seen his countenance turn grim. His gaze was pinned to the letter Mr. Bishop held so confidently, and he seemed to be hanging on to every word of their conversation.
    “So what’s the old girl up to now, Miss Alcester?” Mr. Bishop handed Lissa the letter. “The tales you girls tell of her are the only excitement we get here in Nodding Knoll.”
    Eager for some good news, Lissa smiled at him, then tore at the wax seal.
    As if unable to watch, Jones abruptly turned his back to the group. He feigned an interest in a steel fish-boner, but all the while his eyes were closed as if he were in pain.
    Lissa’s expression soon matched his. She read the letter and, with it, her entire world seemed to fall out from under her.
    “Miss Alcester, whatever is the matter?” Mr. Bishop frowned as she forced herself to read the letter for the second time.
    “Lissa? Is something wrong?” Evvie reached for her.
    “There’s been a tragedy. Great-aunt Sophie is dead,” she uttered bravely. Though her voice shook with every syllable, she continued. “Mr. Fennimore, her London solicitor, says she died in her sleep in Vienna. He has enclosed one month’s pension for us, but after that, there is to be no more.”
    “Oh, Lissa, no,” Evvie whispered. Behind them, unnoticed, Jones was shaking his head.
    “Oh, my dears, not another tragedy! How unkindly life has treated you!” Mrs. Bishop cried out from behind a counter, obviously having overheard the conversation too.
    “We didn’t know her well, Mrs. Bishop,” Lissa confessed. “In fact, we didn’t know her at all. We didn’t even know we had a Great-aunt Sophie until three years ago . . . but we owe her a great deal for our upkeep these past years.”
    “Whatever will you do now?” Mrs. Bishop’s brown eyes filled with tears.
    “I don’t know,” she answered numbly.
    “Let’s go home.” Evvie grasped her arm. “We’ll get along. We’ve always found a way before.”
    “Yes, we’ll manage. Thank you, Mr. Bishop, Mrs. Bishop.”
    Lissa grasped the letter in her gloved hand and they moved to the door. It was opened