Aunt Dimity's Good Deed Read Online Free Page B

absently and looked swiftly past the narrow gap on the bookshelf to the far end of the same shelf. A spidery tingle crept down my spine when I saw another, larger gap.
    “Good grief,” I said in a hushed voice. “He’s taken Reginald with him, too.”

4.
    “Do you mean to tell me that my father-in-law has run off with Aunt Dimity and my pink flannel rabbit?” I demanded, swinging around to face Nell.
    For the first time since our arrival, a slight frown creased Nell’s smooth brow as she looked up at the space on the bookshelf where my powder-pink rabbit should have been—but wasn’t.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “Perhaps Aunt Dimity will tell you.”
    “Right.” I crossed to the chair and peered suspiciously down at the page—for page it was, torn from the blue journal, folded in half, and placed carefully in the center of the seat cushion—then picked it up, unfolded it brusquely, and caught my breath, dumbfounded.
    It was Aunt Dimity’s handwriting. There was no mistaking it. The fine copperplate in the royal-blue ink had shaped words of consolation to my mother and stories that had brightened my childhood. I’d pored over that hand for hours, memorized each loop and spiral—no forgery could fool me.
    “It’s from Aunt Dimity,” I murmured, lowering myself carefully onto the chair.
    Nell nodded, “Bertie thought it would be.”
    “What does she say?” Emma sat across from me while Nell sat on the ottoman, with Ham curled at her feet.
    “It’s about William,” I replied. “Listen:
    “My dear Lori,
    “What on earth has been going on since my last visit? Never mind. No time. William is nearly packed.
    “Briefly, then: William has taken it into his head to conduct an enquiry into family matters past and present. He must be stopped. There’s no telling what kind of trouble he might stir up. People so often become intransigent when vast sums of money are at stake.
    “He has gone to Haslemere to meet with his English cousin Gerald Willis. You must drive there and persuade the silly old fool to go about this business in a more orderly fashion. Reginald and I will travel down in William’s briefcase. We shall do our best to look after him until you arrive.
    “I shall write more when I understand more, but I must be going now. William is in such a tearing hurry that I”
    I looked at Emma.
    “Go on,” she urged.
    “That’s it,” I said. “That’s all she wrote. It ends there, in midsentence.” While I studied the journal page, and Emma stared at the empty hearth, Nell picked up the book Willis, Sr., had been reading and thumbed through it randomly. For a moment the only sounds were the fluttering of yellowed pages and the ticking of the mantelpiece clock.
    Then Emma spoke. “I wonder what Dimity means by ‘trouble,’ ” she said thoughtfully.
    “I wonder what she means by ‘family matters past and present.’ ” Nell frowned down at Willis, Sr.’s book before setting it aside. “And Bertie wants to know about the vast sums of money.”
    “Still, we’re better off than we were before,” Emma pointed out. “At least we know where William’s gone.”
    “He’s gone to see his cousin Gerald,” Nell chimed in. “So now you know where to look for him, Lori.” She waited for me to respond, glanced covertly at her stepmother, then repeated, more loudly, “Lori?”
    I heaved a tiny, forlorn sigh.
    Emma put a hand on Nell’s arm, leaned toward me, and asked, “You do know Cousin Gerald, don’t you?”
    I shook my head slowly. “Never heard of him. I didn’t even know there was an English branch of the Willis family. Not since back before the beginning of time, anyway. Bill never—” I put a hand to my forehead, stricken. “Oh, Emma, what am I going to tell Bill?”
    “I don’t think you should tell him anything ... yet,” advised Emma. “Not until we have something useful to tell him.” She reached for Willis, Sr.’s cup and saucer and got to her feet. “I