Beyond The Blue Mountains - Plaidy Jean (бесплатные онлайн книги читаем полные .TXT) 📗

“I will go and call the men,” she said, and she went through to the shop. The door behind the coats was open, and beyond it was a flight of stone stairs; she went down these.

“Father!” she called.

At the bottom of the steps was a door, and, as she called, this was opened abruptly. Her father appeared; he shut the door behind him as though there were a wild beast in there instead of Marcus.

Tea is prepared, Father,” she said.

He smiled indulgently.

“Not for us, Carolan; we have to go out.”

He stood at the door, watching her mount the stairs.

They are not coming,” she told Kitty.

“It is business.”

“It is always business!” said Kitty, tossing her head.

“But never mind, we can get along well without them.”

Kitty talked. She described the sort of house she would have when they left the shop. She talked of the dresses she would have and those which now filled her wardrobe. Did Carolan think her black velvet could do with a slightly lower neckline? Did her chocolate brown sweep the floor too much?

They heard the men go out through the shop.

“I should have thought Marcus could have called farewell,” said Kitty, pouting.

“He is a strange man,” put in Carolan pensively.

“Strange indeed. He does not belong to these streets, that I’ll swear; he is here to amuse himself.”

“What an odd way he has of amusing himself then!”

“Gentlemen get tired of the old ways of amusing themselves. The faro table, racing, betting, even love affairs can pall. At any rate a new setting is needed.”

“You think he is here to find a new setting for a love affair?”

“Carolan, how you pull me up. I said no such thing. He is here for novelty; that I could swear to! He is no more of this world of sordid streets and trading than … than … I am. It would not surprise me to hear he was a friend of the Prince himself!”

Carolan laughed, but Kitty turned away from her to pursue a dream. The Prince was being entertained at her house and paying such attention to his hostess that everyone remarked upon it. Why not? Was it not known that it was the matronly charms which he ardently admired?

The shop door bell rang.

They have remembered it is tea-time!” said Kitty. They could not have got much farther than the end of the street.”

Carolan opened the door between the parlour and the shop. Jonathan Crew stood there.

“Good afternoon. Miss Carolan!”

Inside the parlour, Kitty heard that voice and patted her side curls.

“Come in, Mr. Crew! Come in!”

He bowed low over Kitty’s hand.

“But how radiant you look today, Ma’am!”

“I am well enough,” said Kitty.

Carolan poured out a cup of tea and handed it to the guest. He smiled his thanks. How cold his eyes were, after the warm admiration in those of Marcus!

“I was passing,” he said, ‘and I thought I could not do that without calling in to see my very good friends. I did not dream that I should be just in time for a cup of this delicious beverage.”

“We are glad you came at this moment. We have just been deserted by my husband and his business colleague.”

“Indeed, Ma’am. You are very kind to welcome me thus.”

“You take sugar in your tea?” asked Carolan.

She watched him help himself; his fingers were short and stubby; unlike Marcus’s, which she had noticed were long and delicate.

Kitty lay back in her chair. Her mind was still in a rosy dream of the future; the only difference was that she had substituted Jonathan for Marcus. Marcus certainly had an air of breeding which Jonathan lacked, but Jonathan flattered her more. Jonathan, she felt, would if he had such intentions offer Carolan marriage; Marcus might not. Jonathan was safer. Yes, Jonathan certainly fitted into her future very satisfactorily, even if he would not bring the Prince of Wales to dine under her roof.

“So comfortable you are here,” said Jonathan.

“I often think of the cosiness of this little parlour behind the shop.”

“Do you?” said Kitty.

“And might I ask, sir, if it is only of the parlour you think, or do you sometimes spare a thought for its inhabitants?”

Now his eyes were on Kitty, turned away from Carolan; they smiled straight into Kitty’s eyes, glittering oddly.

“You know the answer to that. Ma’am,” he said slowly, and coldly it seemed to Carolan, who could not see his eyes. The Prince, thought Kitty, was not the only man who liked a little maturity in women and found the youthful very tame.

“Indeed,” he turned to Carolan now, ‘this is a most interesting house. I often think that the property in these parts is very interesting… drab as it may sometimes seem.”

Ah! thought Kitty. He is interested in property; perhaps that is his business, and the clerkship he talks of is just a blind. Men who own property are rich men, though they may lack the polish of gentlemen of fashion.

“Perhaps, sir,” said Kitty archly, ‘you know more of such matters than do two ignorant females.”

“I will not allow you to call yourself and your daughter ignorant, Ma’am. But these properties must be nigh on two hundred years old; think of that, Ma’am!”

“That takes us back to the dark ages.”

“It does indeed. I am interested in property; perhaps one day you would be kind enough to show me the house.”

“You would be bored to tears,” said Kitty.

“You would certainly find it rather dull,” said Carolan.

“The matters that interest never bore us. I am interested in old houses. Will you please show me this place … one day? Those narrow windows in your upper rooms have always intrigued me from the street. Tell me, do the ceilings slope right to the floor?”

“In the attics, yes,” said Carolan.

“Ah, my dear,” cried Kitty, “I see that our miserable house interests him far more than we do! Let us show him it.”

“Not more, Ma’am… not more!” he insisted.

“Come along,” said Kitty.

“Now.”

Carolan piled the crockery on to a tray and carried it to the kitchen. As she washed the cups she heard the footsteps of her mother and Mr. Crew mounting the stairs, and she ceased to think of them, for she was telling herself that it was high time she received a reply from Everard.

When she had dried and put away the cups she busied herself with some preparation for the evening meal before going back to the parlour, and she had sat there some time before she realized quite suddenly that the house seemed very quiet. What on earth were her mother and Mr. Crew doing all this .time They were probably in the attics, she thought, and went upstairs to find them. They were not there, and she came down again; she explored the lower part of the house, and they were not there. She peeped into the shop, and stared; for she saw at once that the door, which her father had taken such pains to conceal with those old coats, was open; in its lock was a key. She thought quickly that he must have left the key .there this afternoon when he went out with Marcus, and that her mother and Mr. Crew must have slipped through the parlour to the shop while she was in the kitchen.

She took four strides across the shop, went through the door and shut it carefully behind her.

“Mamma!” she called.

“Mamma!”

The door of the basement-room was open. She looked in. The room was small and dark; there was no window, but a grating high in the wall. There were a good many trunks and boxes in the place, and over one of these bent her mother and Mr. Crew.

Kitty turned and laughed at her.

“Your door was open, Carolan!”

“Oh …” stammered Carolan.

“But this is … Father’s storeroom. He always keeps it locked. He…” Kitty wagged a finger.

“Now, Carolan, you reprimanded me the other day for a lack of curiosity; now you would reproach me with being too curious. You see what an exacting daughter I have, Mr. Crew.”

Jonathan Crew turned, and in the dimness of the room Carolan noticed particularly the white flash of his teeth. He was holding a silver ornament in his hands.