The Barefoot Baroness by Joan Smith

Author:Joan Smith [Smith, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-02-20T22:10:11.985000+00:00

The Barefoot Baroness

by Joan Smith

Laura was half afraid to enter, and when she did, her fears

were not lessened. There was so much gilt trim on every wall,

so many painted ceilings and marble fireplaces and artworks

that she felt stifled.

"Lovely!" Olivia said, smiling blandly at Lord Talman.

"I shall send for Mama," he said. "Papa has not come from

London yet, but he will be here for dinner."

The duchess came hobbling forward, her weight borne by a

humble black thorn walking stick. Lord Talman performed the

introductions. The duchess's rheumy eyes gave Olivia a close

scrutiny, then moved to Hettie Traemore's black cane, a twin

of her own, and she smiled sympathetically.

"Another cripple like myself, eh? Show Mrs. Traemore to a

chair, son, and order a cup of tea. Or would you like a lie-

down after your trip, dear?"

Hettie said, "I would give my eye tooth for a nice cup of

tea."

"Eye teeth! I wish I had never heard of eye teeth. I have

one acting up on me and am afraid to have it drawn. The

roots really do go up to the eye. It will be torture having it

out. And imagine what a hag I shall look without my tooth."

She hobbled to a chair and nodded approvingly as Hettie's

recliner was put in place. "Very wise," she said. "I could have

provided you a board, but there is no saying when you are

traveling. I spent the worst weekend of my entire life at

Prinny's wretched pavilion in Brighton. The chairs and sofas

were all so damned soft I had to have a local carpenter

manufacture me a board. Between the heat and the agony of

my back, I never want to see Brighton again."

114

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.