Whispers Beyond the Veil Read Online Free PDF Page A

visit to Old Orchard?” Officer Yancey asked.
    â€œYes, as well as my first visit to the ocean. I was determined to make straight for the beach to see it but didn’t manage to get there before I met the pickpocket.” Officer Yancey proffered his arm.
    â€œIf you look straight ahead you just glimpse a slice of the water.” There lay a sliver of it in front of me, glittering and deeply blue. I felt a tugging in my heart as if something I hadn’t realized I wanted was suddenly offered to me. Like I had been hungry but had no notion of it until I had taken a bite of food.
    â€œJust ahead is one of our newest hotels, the Alberta House.” I followed his pointing finger to an enormous four-story wooden building with a wide porch and a central tower. As accustomed as I was to large crowds and a carnival atmosphere, my experiences were limited to tents and makeshift stages. Here hotels thesize of entire blocks, photographic studios, and livery stables lined the street. People swarmed in and out of carriages and restaurants. Young men swooped past on bicycles. The salt-scented breeze carried sounds of laughter up to us from the shore.
    â€œI was imagining the view from that tower when your welcoming committee grabbed my purse.”
    â€œThe view from there certainly is something worth seeing. But wait until you overlook Saco Bay from the veranda at the Belden.”
    â€œHow can all this be justified?” Everywhere I looked crowds streamed and swelled. Another train pulled into the station as we approached and dozens more people alighted.
    â€œThe Old Orchard Pier Company is accountable for the current influx. This town has been a popular tourist destination for decades but with the construction of the pier, interest has reached a fever pitch.”
    â€œIs that it up ahead?” I asked. Stretching in front of us was a partially completed steel structure.
    â€œIt is. When it opens in a few weeks it will be the world’s longest pleasure pier. They say it is an engineering marvel but I’m reserving judgment until it’s made it through a few nor’easters.”
    â€œHow long is it?”
    â€œApproximately eighteen hundred feet, or just over a third of a mile long. The builders have even planned a miniature train to carry dancers to the ballroom at the end to spare the ladies’ feet.”
    â€œHow extraordinary.”
    â€œYou’ve picked quite the time to visit. Every hotel room has had their reservations completely booked for months.” I hadn’t considered there might be no room for me. I only hoped there would be some way for my aunt to squeeze me in somewhere.
    â€œYou shouldn’t worry though. I’m certain Miss Belden will find room for you. After all, you’re family.”
    â€œYou seem very sure. Are you well acquainted with my aunt?” Just saying the words “my aunt” felt strange, like I was speaking a foreign tongue. There had only ever been “my father.” Anything else felt awkward on my lips.
    â€œEveryone in Old Orchard is acquainted with Honoria Belden, or at least with her reputation.”

C HAPTER T HREE

    O fficer Yancey more than made up for the attempted purse snatching. His enthusiasm for Old Orchard made him seem more like a small boy than a policeman. All along our walk down Grand Avenue he pointed out the merits and histories of each hotel and eatery we passed. When I commented on the depth and breadth of his knowledge he dismissed the compliment, saying he had lived in town all his life. Then, all at once he stopped and pointed to a white clapboard–covered building.
    â€œHere we are. This is the Hotel Belden.” While it was not so large as many of the magnificent hotels we had passed, like the Sea Shore House or the imposing Old Orchard House, with its grounds running from the crest of the hill all the way down to the sea, I recognized it immediately from the photograph. Turrets,