A River Runs Through It Read Free Page A

Kate asked, eyes wide with a look of such
innocence anyone who knew her well would have been forewarned.
    “You jest, Lady Katherine.” He turned to her and all the
others at their table suddenly decided they needed more wine, or lobster
patties, or conversation with someone at another table. There was a hurried
exodus, leaving only Tom and Lucy at one end, and Kate and Mr. Weilmunster at
the other.
    “I have always decreed that a sense of humor, so rare in a
woman, must be guarded lest it get out of hand into vulgarity.” He speared
several more lobster patties onto his plate.
    “Like gluttony.”
    “Precisely,” he agreed. “Lady Katherine, Kate, if I may--”
    Kate’s hackles rose at such familiarity, but she nodded.
    “As I’m sure Lucy has told you, it is my fondest wish to be
your brother very soon. By so doing, it shall be my honor to help relieve you
of those burdens of family which no mere woman should have to bear alone.”
    Kate smiled through gritted teeth. “My family could never be
a burden.”
    “If before that happy day arrives I can be of any assistance
to you,” he blew lobster breath wetly into her face, “you have but to ask.”
    At last! The opening she had been waiting for. “As a matter
of fact,” she began, fanning herself, "there is a matter on which I should
like your opinion, Mr. Weilmunster.”
    He was so surprised he stopped with a lobster patty halfway to
his mouth. Though his offer was kindly, if officiously meant, Lady
Katherine--Kate had never made a secret of her unaccountable dislike of him.
"There is?”
    Kate bit her lip prettily. She dropped her gaze to her fan,
then looked up into his face. He felt the full weight of her considerable Thoreau
charm so that he actually put down the patty and turned his full attention to
his future sister-in-law.
    “Oh, Mr. Weilmunster, I--I simply don’t know where to turn. I
fear a Terrible Suspicion has entered my heart.” She pressed her hand to her
bosom. As bosoms went, it was by no means on par with Lucy’s, but it was
nonetheless a bosom, and he was, after all, a man.
    “I hardly know where to begin. Never would I want to unjustly
accuse any man, but--”
    “Yes, Kate?” he breathed excitedly.
    “It was your discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins,” she told
him piously, “which brought it to my attention. It is Mr. Dalrymple.”
    “I understand from Auntie Alice he is a friend of yours from
London.”
    Nothing the reptile had said so far infuriated Kate as much as
to hear him refer to Lady Alice in such a familiar way, but she swallowed her
spleen. “Hardly a friend, though we did know one another. One meets all sorts
at the very largest parties, as of course you know.”
    Mr. Weilmunster thrust his chest out at her intimation he was
acquainted with the ways of the ton .
“Did he press his suit upon you unwillingly?”
    “Yes, he did. Tell me, Mr. Weilmunster,” she leaned ever so
slightly closer. “Do you feel as I do, that it is rather odd for a stranger in
town to try so hard to discredit our Cavalier? In fact, if one was to take a
look at him,” her companion craned his neck to take a gander at Mr. Dalrymple,
happily holding court in the ballroom, “He really bears a striking resemblance
to--
    "The Cavalier!” He dropped his fork in excitement.
    Kate pressed her advantage. “Imagine, three strong men,
unable to subdue one paltry criminal? His story doesn’t quite add up, don’t
you think?”
    “I--I begin to see your point, Lady Katherine.” He looked
wildly from her to the Cavalier in the next room.
    “Kate, please.” She pressed his arm with the merest butterfly
touch.
    “Kate,” he agreed.
    "The embodiment of all the Seven Deadly Sins, the
Cavalier himself, is corrupting the morals of the youth of our village, Mr.
Weilmunster. You must do something,” she told him thrillingly.
    He looked down at her, his future sister-in-law, de facto head of the most noble line in the county. She
looked back at