A Tangled Web Read Free Page B

lady,” Mrs. Thirkell said from the doorway. “There’s a call for you, from London—”
    â€œNo,” Sabrina cried involuntarily.
    â€œâ€”Miss de Martel. Though of course she’s Mrs. Westermarck now; I must try harder to remember that.”
    â€œGaby,” Sabrina said. She forced her body to stillness. “At three in the morning London time. What in heaven’s name is she up to? Excuse me,” she said to the others, and left the room behind Mrs. Thirkell’s ample back, her muscles tight, her heart pounding.
    â€œGaby,” she said, picking up the telephone in the kitchen. “It must have been quite a party, if you’re just getting home.”
    â€œI haven’t been to a party in two weeks.” Gaby’s high voice was clear and close. “We’ve been in Provence, bicycling. I’ve had an inordinate amount of fresh air; I can’t believe it’s healthy for anyone to have that much all at one time. You didn’t tell me you’d be there; we could have spent some time together.”
    â€œThat I’d be where?”
    â€œIn Provence. Avignon, to be exact. About a week ago.”
    â€œI wasn’t there, Gaby, I was here. What are you talking about?”
    â€œOh, God, am I being indiscreet? Stephanie, were you there to see somebody? I can’t believe it; I thought you were head over heels for your professor. Have you got something going on the side? You can trust me, you know; I’d do anything for you because you’re Sabrina’s sister and I adored her and she saved Brooks and me when—”
    â€œI’m not having an affair; I haven’t got anybody but Garth. Gaby, what is this all about?”
    There was a silence. “You weren’t in Avignon last week?”
    â€œI just told you. No.”
    â€œBut I saw you. Or your double. It was some festival or other, hordes of people—”
    Or your double. Sabrina was trembling again. Once she had had a double. Once she had had a sister.
    â€œâ€”and I couldn’t get to you—you were across the square, walking in the other direction, with a guy, very handsome, very attentive—and you took off your hat, one of those wide-brimmed straw ones with a long scarf tied around the crown, red and orange, and you were brushing back your hair—you know, combing it with your fingers?—and then you put on your hat again and you were gone.”
    Brushing back your hair. She and Stephanie had done that all their lives: taken off a hat, combed their hair with their fingers, feeling the air lift and cool it, then replaced the hat. Their mother had not approved; a lady kept her hat on, she said. But Sabrina and Stephanie went on doing it long after they were grown up and far away from their mother’s strictures. Brushing back your hair.
    â€œMy lady?” Mrs. Thirkell pulled a chair up and put her hands on Sabrina’s shoulders, settling her into it. “I’ll get you some tea.”
    â€œSo either you’ve been identical triplets all this time, without telling anybody,” Gaby said, “or something very weird is going on.”
    â€œOf course we weren’t triplets, don’t be absurd.” She was trembling again; she could not hold herself still. It was as if the earth were shifting beneath her feet. “This whole thing is absurd,” she said, biting off her words. “You saw someone who reminded you of me, that’s all; I can’t imagine why you’d make something of it—”
    â€œStephanie, listen, I’m not joking, this is very weird and a little scary. I’ve known you and Sabrina since she and I were roommates at Juliette; I lived in her house on Cadogan Square when Brooks and I broke up, and she andI talked every night; she even took me on her lap once, and I cried like a baby, and I loved having her hold me, and I loved her, and I know what the two of you look like and