Bellevere House (Vintage Jane Austen) by Sarah Scheele

Author:Sarah Scheele [Scheele, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Artie blinked as the cheery Watertons turned expectantly to him. He didn’t mind impersonating a man of stature like Uncle Warren. Why, it would hardly be an impersonation at all, since Artie was a man of stature himself with a family business in radio! But he needed a moment to collect his thoughts before he blazed full tilt into the role.

“Yes, yes, got to keep everything tight. Scalawags and delinquents begone, I say. What the blazes are you kids doing down here at this time of the day?” he shrieked, waving his right arm as if it were tangled in his jacket.

Ed raised an eyebrow. “It’s three in the afternoon. Why shouldn’t we be up and about?”

Artie put a hand to his waist and adopted a pose. Faye stifled a giggle. Was he aware the first image that popped into her head was of Andrew Carnegie in his old age, posing for a daguerreotype? “Not one of you kids is fit to live, not one! You don’t know what it takes to keep this place running. Well now, do you know? That’s right, you don’t.” Artie cast a cold, incriminating gaze on Grover. “What do you think you’re doing? Get out there and do as you’re told. I knew I should have sent you into the military.”

Mrs. Waterton, her copious dress bobbling, tapped her umbrella on the ground. She meant to interrupt Artie before he shouted instructions for another ten minutes. Thank you, dear lady. “Are these other people your guests, Mr. Haverton? We can come back later. Walt and I had been told you were available today, but we don’t want to intrude.”

Oh, dear. Another roadblock. This is getting worse by the minute.

As if seized by some fiendish genius, Myrtle yanked Horace towards her and put her arm through his. “No, I’m Warnie’s sister, actually. Our father, Old Warren, died last year. So sad. But my husband and I are visiting the old home place and we brought a few friends.” She leaned into Horace and gave a tremendous smile that drowned her entire face.

The others froze at this startling fabrication. Dead? They killed off Uncle Warren? Faye could not help mouthing the words in horror. What will they say next, that Artie and I are in love? That would be a textbook example of a lie.

Mrs. Waterton, exclaiming in delight, held out her hand to grasp Myrtle’s. Her handshake was surprisingly extremely firm and her eyes locked rather hypnotically, penetratingly on Myrtle’s for a brief moment. “I felicitate you! So you are Mr. Haverton’s sister? I thought Mr. Haverton was an older man, though.” She glanced at Artie. “I’ve never heard of you.”

Mr. Rivers’ voice broke in. He had finally come in from the dining room. “Married? If you’re married to Horace, what am I?”

Myrtle seemed a bit nonplused at this additional complication. Faye put a hand to her forehead, groaning, as Myrtle received a light bulb moment. “Errm . . . the janitor. His family always worked for my father, so we keep them because of memory, you know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.