Aurora Read Online Free Page B

not. As a young widow at the Dower House, she had been befriended by the raffish, and been very happy, too, but now she was above the rich cits and wished to take her rightful place as the mistress of Raiker Hall. Marnie was under no misapprehension as to the use to which she was being put, but she felt it proper that Clare raise the ton of the callers at Raiker Hall, and was willing to abet her.
    It was decided that Clare would “just scribble off the cards,” and Marnie would drop them off at the designated homes, adding her own personal entreaties that they be accepted. She had no other function except to attend the party herself and show her approval. All the planning and redecorating would be done by Clare; she would not be pestering dear Marnie in the least. As a reward, Clare said at the end, “I have been thinking, why do you not take that lovely little firescreen you made home with you? It would look well by your grate, and I have seen an appliqué one in the village that would suit me better.”
    “I would like to have it,” Marnie said at once. “And the Wedgwood tea service in the—”
    “Oh my dear! Don’t quite strip the place bare on poor little Charles!” Clare laughed.
    Marnie held her tongue, but she thought that future help might bring not only her tea service but even her engagement ring back to her.
    “By the way, Clare, the gypsies are back,” Aurora said before they left. “One came to tell our fortune yesterday. You must make sure Charles is not let out alone.”
    “Are they indeed?” Clare asked, with a frightened look, the first genuine emotion she had shown. “I’ll have them run off.”
    “They are harmless. Bernard never bothered with them,” Marnie said.
    “Harmless? They are thieves and worse. You know the Raiker necklace was stolen by them.”
    This was a piece of family legend that had not arisen till the death of Clare’s husband. When it had come time to turn over the heirlooms, the fabulous Raiker emeralds had been missing, and then it was revealed that it had vanished at the last visit of the gypsies. No public clamour had arisen, as the departure of the gypsies had also seen the departure of Kenelm, and there was just enough doubt in everyone’s mind that it was he and not the gypsies who had taken the necklace that it had not been officially reported as missing. Bernard, the heir, was the logical one to raise a fuss, but he had never done so.
    “We don’t know they took it,” Marnie pointed out.
    “We don’t know they didn’t. Still, they are full of mischief. One trembles to think what they might do if one treated them harshly. Charles will not be out alone, you may be sure. Indeed, I never let him outside alone; he is too precious to me. He is all I have left.” The wisp of lace was raised to her eyes.
    The ladies took their leave, and as they travelled down the road with the firescreen bobbing precariously behind them, Aurora asked, “Do you think Kenelm stole the necklace?”
    Marnie regarded her shrewdly. “She stole it herself. She knew her husband was dying and her days as a rich woman were numbered. It would make a good nest egg for her.”
    “Why didn’t Bernard do something about it?”
    “How could it be proved? Besides, she intimated in her own sweet way what a pity it would be for her to have to point out to the officials that it had vanished at the same time as Bernard’s brother. Blackmail is what it amounted to. I didn’t bother changing his mind. Emeralds don’t suit me, and it was entailed. I mean, I could only wear it while Bernard was alive. It’s not as though it would ever be really my own.”
    This blatant self-interest did not surprise Aurora. She loved Marnie dearly, and accepted her little flaws with philosophy. Marnie continued, “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised ifthe necklace turned up any day now. She would have the use of it while Charles is still a boy, and while it wouldn’t suit her either; she would like to sport