When the Splendor Falls Read Online Free PDF Page B

voices in the crowd calling for secession,” Mr. Travers declared. “But then you Leighs always have been a rebellious lot. First to call for poor mad King George’s bewigged head, I believe.”
    “Actually, sir, I believe there were several prominent Leighs who were Tories, and that is why we have cousins in England today. However, that is beside the point. I declare, all I ever hear anymore is this abolitionist talk. And it is dangerous talk, you mark my words,” Beatrice Amelia warned them. “Why, it caused my poor Great-Uncle Louis Wilcox’s death.”
    “Great-Uncle Louis’s death? I thought he choked on a catfish bone?” Mr. Travers asked, wrinkling his brow in memory.
    Beatrice Amelia sniffed as she wound the silken thread tighter around her slender fingers. “He did,” she replied evenly, “but it was only because he turned apoplectic at the dinner table over all this abolitionist talk, and unless you wish me to follow in my great-uncle’s footsteps over dinner this eve, then you will cease this instant, Mr. Travers.”
    Beatrice Amelia’s son-in-law was clearing his throat from a sudden huskiness when he caught his wife’s eye and knew he hadn’t succeeded in masking his chuckle.
    “Did I tell you we met Neil Braedon in Europe when we were on our honeymoon?” Althea said, speaking to no one in particular and hoping her mother hadn’t heard her husband’s muffled snort.
    “Really, dear?” Beatrice Amelia responded, genuinely interested.
    “Neil was in Paris. I have to admit he is a very handsome man, and now I think about it, your description of your Uncle Nathaniel seems quite appropriate in describing his son,” Althea said.
    “What did I say?” Nathan asked, concerned that he might have been indiscreet, for whatever might have seemed appropriate in describing Neil surely couldn’t have been mentioned with ladies present, and he hoped he hadn’t been disrespectful to his uncle.
    “You spoke of ‘a devil with gold curls,’ which I believe very nicely describes Neil Braedon. I was pleased to be introduced to him as your wife, dear,” Althea added.
    “Not really? I’ve never thought he was that threatening,” Nathan declared in surprise.
    “You are not a woman,” she said with a delicate shiver.
    “What does that mean? He’s irresistible to a woman, or dangerous?”
    “One and the same when you meet those eyes of his,” Althea surprised her husband by answering. “His gaze is so intent, and patient, as if he knows he will get what he wants if he waits long enough.”
    Nathan laughed. “Then I am glad I met you first, my dearest.”
    “Actually, I decided upon you first, so you need never have worried, even when Neil came here that summer and you Braedon boys were quite horrible to me.”
    “Never!”
    “You might thank Neil and Adam for being so obnoxious, because you always came to my defense, and that was why I fell in love with you.”
    “Did I really?” Nathan asked, pleased at the thought.
    “A woman never forgets,” Mr. Travers commented at great risk.
    “When we were in Paris we also met Neil’s wife,” Althea continued, remembering that encounter as though it were yesterday.
    “I do recollect you mentioning something about her now, dear,” Beatrice Amelia remembered. “Foreign, wasn’t she?”
    Nathan smiled. “Of Spanish descent on her mother’s side of the family, but her father was originally from Ohio, I believe, definitely an American. He went out to the territories about the same time Uncle Nathaniel did. He married a woman from one of the oldest families in the New Mexico Territory. This Alfonso Jacobs owns the land nearest to Royal Rivers.”
    “She was exquisite,” Althea recalled. “Black hair, black eyes, alabaster skin, and a profile that was very aristocratic. Although haughty, she was quite charming. She said very little. And when she did speak, she had quite an accent, so I assume she preferred speaking in Spanish. What was her name,