Verity Sparks and the Scarlet Hand Read Online Free Page A

was all.
    We’d promised Mrs Reilly we’d be back in time for lunch so it was time to say goodbye. Mrs Brandywine herself walked me to the door.
    “Come and see me again, dear,” she said, holding my hand while the others passed through the golden doors and out into the street. “I am here if you need me. Remember that.”
    “I won’t forget,” I said.

    After lunch, Drucilla sent us all to our rooms for an hour.
    “You may read,” she said.
    “I don’t know ’ow,” objected Poppy.
    “Or look at pictures in the
Illustrated Atlas
. Silently, Poppy.”
    I didn’t feel like reading. I couldn’t stop thinking about the lady in the grey dress. As far as I could tell from the miniature portrait, the resemblance to Mama was close. The same pale, oval face, the arched brows and large brown eyes, the dark hair …
    Come on, Verity, I told myself. There must be many people in the world who look alike.
    But what were the chances that Mama’s double would be in Brandywine’s Book Bazaar at the same time I was? And why had she stared at me like that? I tried to puzzle it out. Perhaps I looked like someone
she
knew, and that was why she’d been staring. I put the miniature back on my dressing table. I’d been looking at Mama’s picture too long. I was imagining things.

    The hour was up. Poppy had fallen asleep over the map of India and Connie was still engrossed in her biography of Beethoven so I decided to leave them be. I was halfway down the stairs when I heard voices below me in the hall. One was Drucilla’s. But who was she talking to?
    “I am so grateful,” she was saying. “As long as I won’t be a bother …”
    “No, no, no. With our six children, you will be a great deal of help to Mrs Leviny, and she will enjoy your company, I assure you.”
    So it was Mr Leviny. Neither Papa nor Drucilla had mentioned that he was calling on us. Was this why we’d been sent upstairs after lunch? If I understood rightly, Mr Leviny had invited Drucilla to visit.
    “And, Ernö, we will see you very soon in Castlemaine as well,” said Papa.
    So we were all invited? I moved down a few steps.
    “Yes, indeed,” said Mr Leviny. Then he turned to Drucilla and shook her hand. “I shall meet you at Spencer Street Station tomorrow afternoon.” He clicked his heels as he gave an old-fashioned bow. “Until tomorrow, Miss Deane.”
    The door closed behind him, and I ran down the stairs in a fever of curiosity.
    “I couldn’t help hearing,” I said. “What’s this about the station? What did Mr Leviny mean?”
    “Ernö has made a suggestion that will save our dear Drucilla from her so very horrid Aunt Theodora in Hobart,” said Papa. “He and his wife have invited Drucilla to stay with them in Castlemaine for three or four weeks.” He patted Drucilla’s hand. “It will give her a chance to consider what her next step should be. What is more …” He paused, rather teasingly. He was obviously pleased as Punch with his scheme. “… you and I, Verity – along with Connie and Poppy – are invited to Castlemaine as well.”
    “To stay with Mr and Mrs Leviny?” They must have a very large house, I thought, to hold a family and four guests.
    “No, we’ll stay with Nicky and his wife. See, has not your papa arranged things suitably?”
    “Very suitably, Papa,” I said, standing on tiptoes to kiss him. “We’re all going to Castlemaine, and no one is going to Hobart.”
    Hobart is a long way from Melbourne across stormy Bass Strait. A long way from SP too. On the other hand, you could take the train and be in Castlemaine for lunch. Which is much easier for matchmaking.

    “SP, what are you doing?” said Judith.
    She’d arrived at Alhambra in the late afternoon, saying she needed fresh air. Within minutes, she’d whisked me off for a walk along the Esplanade, but her real purpose was to visit SP. We arrived at his lodgings to find him with his trunk open in the middle of the room. Piles of clothing and books