The Riddle of Alabaster Royal Read Online Free

Wansdyke loathed it also. I was never more pleased than when she told my father she would sooner stay in London’s heat! There are spirits, John! Drifting about— everywhere! And that dreadful cat! Ugh!” She shivered. “It was always so … cold! And I saw…” Her voice trailed into silence.
    He said teasingly, “You’re surely not saying you believe in ghosts and goblins and such nonsense?”
    â€œI am saying I saw something in that horrid old place! Something terrifying. To this day I often wake in a panic, just to recall it. Ah. You choose to laugh at me! So why do I trouble to warn you?”
    â€œNo, really. I only—”
    â€œNever mind. I am accustomed to being slighted and ignored. It is my lot in life. You are a typical male and will go your own way, no matter what I say, or how my poor nerves are overset. Well, go then, and be done! Abandon me in this l-lonely house w-with no one to care about me!”
    Dismayed, he said, “But Mama, even when I am here, you seldom have time to see me. You have Cousin Eve to keep you company, and all your charities and bazaars and card-parties, and your friends. I’d not thought you were lonely. Perhaps you should move to the town house, where there is so much for you to—”
    â€œThere is no call to pretend you care about poor me,” she declared, dabbing at her eyes again. “ Go to your country monstrosity! It is all of a piece. You are every bit as s-selfish as Sherborne was, and so I tell you! When I look back, I wonder why I wasted my youth … c-caring for the pair of you, for all the affection I was given in return. If ever there were ser-serpents’ teeth…”
    Among his friends Captain Jack Vespa had the reputation of managing to surmount any obstacle with cheerful persistence, seldom allowing his temper, which could flare unexpectedly, to get the best of him. He persisted now, soothing his mother’s lamentations and attempting to win her to a happier frame of mind. But in the end, perhaps because by then his head was aching fiercely, he promised to stay by her side for at least another week.
    Sir Kendrick was “called away” that very evening. Solomon and Barrister, of course, escorted him.
    *   *   *
    Ten days later, Jack rode through the gates of the Richmond house and breathed a sigh of relief. It had not been easy, but he was free at last.
    The word of his return had spread like wildfire, and friends and neighbours had flocked to welcome him home. Lady Faith had been in her element. She had presided over luncheons, teas and dinner parties with the air of an inwardly heart-broken mother struggling gallantly to present a brave face to the world. Her martyrdom, and the sympathetic glances that came his way as she recounted ever more dramatic tales of his narrow escape from death, had tried his patience to the limit. His attempts to leave had been blocked with what he had to admit were superb tactics. He was grateful to those who had come to see him, but that the constant society functions might prove exhausting to a semi-invalid had never seemed to occur to his mother.
    The promised week had stretched to nine days, and yesterday afternoon he’d told her he must depart. She had dismissed this with a merry laugh and a list of upcoming events and invited guests whom he “simply could not ” disappoint. He’d done his best to please, but he was beginning to feel worse than when he’d left the hospital, and he was not such a fool as to endanger his health only to provide his mother with an excuse for a continuing round of parties. Accompanying her up the stairs after a particularly tiresome evening, he had told her politely but with determination that he would drive out for Alabaster Royal first thing in the morning. This had precipitated a flood of tears and reproaches, but the fact that Lady Faith had not once enquired as to his own