The Abandoned Bride by Edith Layton

Author:Edith Layton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

A The servant left the room with the last of the dinner’s crumbs safely collected within the discarded napery he bore away. He had been so thorough in his cleaning that all he left behind him in the dining room was a deep and unbroken silence, and the two former diners, who sat and glowered at each other across the now empty table. It was the gentleman who spoke first, as the door nicked slowly closed upon the heels of the departing waiter.

“Three days, I believe,” he said, as though he were replying to some question, although his companion at the table had not addressed anything but a singularly mistrustful look to him for some moments. “Yes, three days, I am sure of it. It was the very first night we arrived here in Paris. I asked you if your room was comfortable, I inquired as to whether the dinner had suited you, and then, just before I bade you a good night, I told you, no, I recall,” the baron said with some show of discovery, “I suggested, I strongly suggested,” he amended, “that you visit a dressmaker and have some new garments made. I believe I even suggested that since we were now in Paris you employ the services of Louis Hippolyte Leroy. As he was good enough for the Empress Josephine, I thought you might find him adequate. I left a purse upon the table to that purpose, I am sure of it,” he said with a bit more force, “for though I might forget a great many things, I always remember both promises and payments. It makes me a better landlord, and a better friend as well, I believe, for close accounting is important to both purposes. I’m not clutch-fisted, Miss Hastings, but neither am I quite blind. It is not the money I inquire about, it is the use it was put to. The purse is gone and so far as I can see, that garment you are wearing now, that grayish-brownish colored frock,” he gestured toward her with a dismissive wave of his hand as he spoke, “is the self-same one that you wore three days ago, or as near to it as to be its twin. I can see that it is not soiled, I am aware that it is fresh as a dew-washed daisy, but I am also acutely aware that it is not, I repeat, not, a new frock. And unless the French have gone mad with grief over losing the war, I doubt that they have begun to style such garments for foreign trade, so I take leave to doubt that it is one of the Parisian creations that you ordered and purchased as I requested you to do those three nights ago.”

The young woman looked unperturbed. Her expression did not change and she did not shrink back as the gentleman leaned forward with his chin upon his hand, his elbow upon the table, as he awaited his reply . Her pale face was composed, her chin was lifted, and her hands remained folded in her lap.

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.