Fortune is a Woman Read Free Page B

as the newspapers get hold of the story she'll be branded the 'Richest Little Girl in the World.' They'll make a freak out of her! I just wanted her to have a normal childhood, to get married, have children... be happy. This is what the Mandarin wanted. He planned her destiny. When she finishes her schooling she will leave San Francisco and go to Hong Kong. She will live with the comprador's family and begin to learn about Lai Tsin and how the business is run. She will learn how to be taipan of one of the world's major trading companies."
    Annie's mouth tightened. "You can't let her go to Hong Kong. And besides, when are you going to tell her the truth?"
    Francie didn't answer. She walked across to the window and pulled back the heavy silk curtain, staring out into the night. The lights of San Francisco twinkled below in the mist, but she didn't see them; instead she saw the Mandarin's face as he lay on his deathbed and asked her to repeat her promise to him.
    "Annie," she said slowly, "even you don't know the whole truth."
    Annie stood up, smoothing her skirt over her ample hips. "Francie Harrison," she said angrily, "we've been friends all these years and there's not a secret in my life you don't know. And now you tell me you've been keeping things from me. Not that it matters—except if it concerns Lysandra, then I have a right to know."
    The thin parchment crackled as Francie waved the Mandarin's will under her nose. "You know everything there is to know about Lysandra. Here, read it for yourself—"
    "You know I can't read Chinese... and anyway, that's not what I meant."
    "Then there's nothing more to say. The Mandarin guided our lives and we know he was right. Now he will guide Lysandra's and it is my duty to see that what he wished is done."
    Grabbing her coat, Annie settled the big fur collar around her throat. "I don't want to quarrel with you, Francie Harrison, but I don't approve of it and I never will. And I'll make sure Lysandra knows where she can come when things go wrong—to her godmother, her aunt Annie, that's where!"
    She flounced to the door, then hesitated, her hand on the knob. "Oh, Francie." She sighed remorsefully. "I came to comfort you and all I'm doing is upsetting you. What kind of woman am I?"
    Francie smiled through her tears as they hugged each other. "You're just the same woman you always are, Annie Aysgarth, and I wouldn't want you any different."
    "Just remember that the past is over, Francie. It's the future that counts."
    Francie shook her head. "For the Chinese the past is still part of life."
    "More's the pity," Annie Aysgarth muttered under her breath as they walked to the door.
    Francie watched the taillights of her Packard disappear into the misty night. It was only nine o'clock, but California Street was deserted. Up the hill she could see the lights shining on the sidewalk outside her childhood home. Of course, it wasn't the same house, because that had been destroyed in the great earthquake in 1906, but her brother, Harry Harrison, had rebuilt the mansion immediately, "To show San Francisco and America that nothing—not even an act of God, could defeat the Harrisons," he had said. Only Francie had ever been able to do that.
    She looked down the hill at the blurred lights of San Francisco, thinking of the happy people going out to dinner or dancing or to a show, and loneliness enveloped her like the cold gray mist, chilling her very bones and making her shiver. Hurrying back inside she threw another log on the fire and curled up on the sofa, wrapping the soft paisley blanket around her. Silence settled about her like the fog; the logs crackled and the clock ticked, but there was not another sound. She might have been the last person on earth.
    It was the way she always used to feel when she was a child, alone in her room in the big Harrison mansion on Nob Hill.
    The lonely minutes were dragging past and she glanced at her watch. It was small and gold and simple and it had been