The Magnificent Masquerade by Elizabeth Mansfield

Author:Elizabeth Mansfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Regency, Romance: Regency, Romance - Regency, General, Romance, Romance - General, Fiction, Fiction - Romance
ISBN: 9780515114607
Publisher: Jove
Published: 1994-06-01T08:49:06.341000+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Kitty, excited by her success with both Miss Alicia and Miss Leacock, scurried to Emily's room to tell her the news. She knocked at Emily's door and heard a muffled sound within that might or might not have signified permission to enter. Puzzled, she opened the door carefully and stepped over the threshold. To her surprise, she found Emily rising hastily from the bed and making a feeble and completely unsuccessful attempt to staunch the flow of tears from her eyes. "Emily," she exclaimed, quickly closing the door, "whatever is amiss?"

"Everything," Emily stated flatly, taking a deep breath and dashing the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I've brought everything c-crashing down on our heads." Kitty crossed the room to her side. "It can't be as bad as that, even if they've found you out." With complete composure, she put an arm about Emily's waist and led her to the bed.

"They didn't find me out," Emily said, sinking down on the edge of the bed and expelling a trembling breath, "but it's the next worse thing."

Kitty sat down beside her. "If they didn't find you out, there is no next worse thing."

"Yes, there is. I've r-refused him, you see."

"Refused him? Refused whom?"

Emily turned to stare at Kitty in surprise. "Why, Toby, of course. Whom did you think?"

"Oh, him." She made a waving motion with her hand that consigned Toby to eternal limbo. "Who cares about him?" "Who cares? Good heavens, Miss Jessup, he fully expected to marry me ... er ... you!"

"I don't give a fig for his expectations. Don't tell me you were wasting your emotions weeping for the abominable Toby

Wishart!" She looked at Emily curiously. "Were you weeping for him?"

Emily looked down at the hands locked together in her lap. "No, I wasn't. I was weeping for myself. He ... offended me, you see ... deeply offended me."

"What, again? I say, Emily, I hope you slapped him this time."

Emily threw a quick, guilty look at Kitty's face. "No, I . ." She shook her head and dropped her eyes again. "I'd rather not speak of it. But I must tell you that it was when he spoke of our ... your marriage that I lost my head. When he brought the matter up, I became utterly flummoxed. You hadn't instructed me in what to say if the subject came up, you see. I didn't know if you wanted me to pretend to accept him, to say that this wedding was being forced on me, or to reject him. But then, when ... when matters got out of hand, I ... I told him I wouldn't have him even if he..." She twisted her fingers together tightly to keep them from trembling. "... if he was the 1-last man on earth."

"Did you really say that?" Kitty asked, wide-eyed. "I didn't think anyone ever said those words in real life."

Emily covered her face in shame. "Well, I d-did." Kitty could see that her friend needed comfort, but it seemed to her that Emily was unduly upset.

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.