Laura Matthews Read Online Free

chair, and surveyed him with a critical eye.
    “My brother, Captain Lawrence,” Hortense informed the earl. “Perhaps you remember his name from the battle of Trafalgar.”
    Alvescot had no recollection of ever hearing the name before, but he was willing to concede that with the passing of twelve years the name might have slipped his memory. Nevertheless, the gentleman seemed rather old to have served a mere twelve years ago, surely being beyond sixty.
    “Youserved with Wellington, I hear,” the captain growled. “You’d have done better to have chosen a naval career, sir. A much more exacting and professional responsibility.”
    “But the action was largely on land for some years,” Alvescot replied, unwilling to let yet another of these unamiable people annoy him.
    “The blockade! You forget how essential the blockade was.”
    Mabel Curtiss interjected a word presumably culled from her son. “Boring. The blockade was nothing but a bore. All the young men said so.”
    Captain Lawrence turned on her. “These young puppies don’t have the guts to withstand the least discomfort. All the sailors were forever getting sick. Not once did I succumb to a disease on board ship. This generation is a bunch of cossetted ingrates and lily-livered idiots. You didn’t find that kind of behavior in my day.”
    Without waiting for anyone to invite him to sit, the captain did so, and continued to express his opinions of the current youth of England. Alvescot tolerated this for several minutes before excusing himself to find his hostess. She was, a footman informed him, on the nursery floor, but he would be glad to find out if she would see the earl when she was finished there. Alvescot found the assumption that she would come at her leisure a rather unique one in his experience. He was accustomed to immediate attention on account of his rank.
    But he refused to feel offended, since that would only somehow put him in league with his sharp-tongued aunt, and he had no desire to share any niche with her. When the footman returned to advise him that Mrs. Damery would meet him in the Library at four, he thanked the man and, not being willing to return to the Saloon, wandered about the ground floor to familiarize himself with any changes that might have been made since his last visit.
    * * * *
    Vanessa reached the Library several minutes before their appointed time. Waiting for his arrival that morning had caused her to miss being with the children and she had insisted on keeping to her schedule of being with them in the afternoon. He had, after all, invited himself to Cutsdean. Vanessa had chosen the Library with its bookshelves built into the walls and its flood of sunlight coming though the bay windows because it was seldom visited by her household, and because it contained her ledgers for the estate, being her office as well. Lord Alvescot, as co-trustee of the estate, had the right to examine her household and estate books if he so desired.
    The old pedestal desk dated from the 1720s and Vanessa found it expedient to keep the drawers locked against any unwanted inspection of her records. The heavy mahogany piece was five feet wide with a kneehole flanked by carved corner pilasters so grandiose as to make her feel slightly ridiculous when she sat at it. Despite her unusual height, the desk dwarfed her, making her appear young and vulnerable. Not exactly the impression she wished to give Lord Alvescot, so she pulled a book at random from the shelves and seated herself in one of the red velvet winged chairs which surrounded the room.
    At precisely four o’clock the earl appeared in the open door, located her with a quick glance, and stepped into the room.
    “You’d best close the door if you don’t want everyone to overhear our conversation,” she warned him. “I’m not saying any of them would be so crass as to eavesdrop, mind you, but they might just happen to be wandering through the Drawing Room and find a sudden desire to