The Scorpia Menace Read Online Free Page A

nodded pleasantly to the others and settled herself at the desk.
She had already selected the volumes she intended studying and now she assembled the material on the surface of the desk before her. The library was a light and airy place, the ranks of books in teak bookcases making a blaze of color round the walls, and an old pine farmhouse-type clock licked melodiously on as the minutes passed. Amanda Welch, the dynamic, blonde-haired history teacher in her mid-forties, was already sitting in her famous steel and leather armchair on a dais in front of the students, ticking olf something in a leather-covered book.
Now she got up and extended a welcome to the class. Then she went round the tables individually, greeting the students and asking and answering questions. She hesitated momentarily as she reached Diana.
"I noticed your name on the register," she said. "Aren't you Diana Palmer, the Olympic diver and explorer?"
Diana smiled.
"That is true, Miss Welch," she replied, "but I think my achievements have been somewhat exaggerated by the press."
Miss Welch's eyes were sparkling as she gazed at Diana with approval.
"I think you may safely let the public be the judge of that," she said.
"I was rather surprised at your enrolling for this course, that's all." Diana looked puzzled for a moment.
"I don't quite follow you, Miss Welch," she said.
Miss Welch tested the pliability of a pencil between her delicately manicured fingers as she gazed across the room at the other students.
"What I'm trying to say, Miss Palmer," she said, "is that this history course must seem pretty tame to you after your travels and all your other accomplishments."
Diana's face cleared. She laughed softly.
"Oh, I see. No, I find it exciting. I think if you put everything into the task of the moment you invariably get something out of it in return. At least, that's what I feel."
Miss Welch's eyes met hers gravely.
"That's a refreshing attitude these days, Miss Palmer," she said ruefully. "I only wish some of our less mature students would take the same attitude."
Diana smiled again.
"Ah, student lib. That's a big question," she said.
"Too big to go into tonight," said Miss Welch. "Particularly during history class."
She tightened her grip on the pencil and tapped it against pink finger nails.
"Forgive me for being personal in saying this," she murmured.
Diana looked at her inquiringly.
"Go ahead," she said.
Miss Welch hesitated. She shifted awkwardly from on foot to the other.
"Well, it's just that one is surprised," she said.
"Surprised about what?" said Diana.
Miss Welch came to the point.
"I wonder why a beautiful and talented girl like you isn't married," she said.
There was a faint flush on her cheeks which had not escaped Diana's notice and which saved her from embarrassment in turn.
"There are reasons, Miss Welch," she said. "Your question was not at all impertinent. I may tell you something more about it when we get to know each another better."
With that Miss Welch had to be content She turned away to begin her opening remarks. But Diana, head bent down toward her books was already mentally re-echoing Miss Welch's questions. The image of Kit Walker as she had last seen him kept coming between her and the printed pages. Miss Welch was a remarkably shrewd woman. She looked at her now as she sat in her swivel chair, poised and perfectly at ease as she put major historical questions into the context of the course.
Several weeks passed and Diana gradually became absorbed in the course. Under Miss Welch's expert instruction she and the other members of the class made rapid progress and she found history, up until now somewhat dry, an absorbing subject. She had chosen to discuss in a term paper ecrtain characteristics of the sixteenth century and as her researches deepened she found herself concentrating less on the broad aspects of political and trade policies than on the more obscure manifestations of lawlessness in a particularly lawless period.
Diana