Broom with a View Read Online Free Page A

that very rainy Summer Solstice where you presided at Turnbridge Wells? Miss Tartlette?”
    “Of course. I remember only too well,” the Sorcerer said, grateful she had the decency to refresh his memory as to her name. “Are you both staying here at the Belladonna?”
    “Momentarily,” Vera replied with a sniff. “We are on the verge of making a change.”
    “Oh, we can’t change now,” Violet pleaded, seizing her aunt by the hand. “Not now Mr. Beelzebub is here.”
    “Please call me Mr. B,” the Sorcerer insisted. “Beelzebub is such a mouthful after dinner. Now, just why is it you are thinking of leaving?”
    “Vampires .” Vera conveyed everything in one whispered word. “Two of them. A father and son. They had the effrontery to offer to switch rooms with us. They apparently prefer the basement, and they offered us their rooms on the top floor. But I am a woman of the world in my own small way, and I know where those sorts of things may lead.”
    “Are you speaking of Count Du Monde and his son?” Mr. B asked, seating himself in a velvet -covered chair and pulling his carved meerschaum pipe from his pocket.
    “Why yes,” Vera replied , taken aback that the Sorcerer would be so familiar with the undead. “Do you know them?”
    “Of course,” Mr. B exclaimed , patting his pockets in search of his tobacco pouch. “I stay at the Belladonna frequently when I’m in X, and they are regulars here. Count Du Monde is a good sort of chap. Sort of an expatriate of his species, you know. His son is a bit gloomy, but no more than expected from a young Vampire.”
    Vera became agitated. Her greatest fear was that she should appear judgemental, as it impeded her judgements being taken seriously. “So you think I was wrong in rejecting them? You think I am small minded?”
    “Not at all,” Mr. B assured her with a good -humored laugh. “You just haven’t adjusted to life in X yet. It takes some getting used to, but I find myself missing it when I’m back in England.”
    Still, Miss Tartlette wasn’t convinced. She was, after all, a chaperone. “I would just hate to be put under an obligation. Especially with there being a young man involved and Violet being so inexperienced.”
    “But there would be no obligation on either side,” interjected Violet, growing impatient  with her aunt again. “They want our rooms as much as we want theirs.”
    “Would it help if I were to arrange the exchange?” Mr. B offered, always happy to put a lady at her ease.
    “Oh, would you?” Vera gazed at him with eager appreciation. “That would be most kind.”
     
    And Mr. B was most kind. He settled the matter with the two Vampires only a few minutes after finishing his pipe. Count Du Monde and his son were most gracious about the exchange, sending word back that they promised to clear out from their view-ladened rooms immediately, so the ladies wouldn’t have the awkwardness of repeatedly passing them in the hall. Plus fresh linens had to be ordered. The proprietress was not pleased at having to fix up so many rooms so late in the evening, but Vera was firm. After all, there wouldn’t have been this little difficulty if the proprietress had just stuck to her word as it had been originally extended.
     
     
    * * * * * * * * *
     
    “I have no wish to incommode you, dear Violet, but let me just say this,” Vera began as Violet finished settling into their new quarters. The girl steeled herself. She was tired and in no mood for her aunt to raise some niggling little concern. Vera continued, “I know it is at you and your mother’s generosity that I’m here at all, and I would never dream of going against your wishes, but maybe it would be more proper if we switched rooms with one another.”
    Violet, who had been propping a stack of books on a shelf, stopped what she was doing. “Whatever for?”
    “It has come to my attention that the larger room was formerly occupied by the young man. Under normal