Fragile Mask Read Free

any little item concerning the lady who has
dashed the heart from my chest in an instant. Tell me
all!’
    ‘ But, indeed, Denzell, I believe Osmond is in the right of
it on this occasion.’
    ‘ What do you mean, on this occasion? I’m always in the right
of it.’
    ‘ Do be quiet for a moment, dearest.’
    ‘ Yes, for pity’s sake, “dearest”, hold your
tongue!’
    Osmond rolled some crumbled bread and flicked it at his
friend. Denzell, naturally enough, returned the compliment, and
battle was fairly joined until both combatants were called to order
by the lady of the house.
    ‘ I declare, you are worse than Felix and Miles, the pair of
you,’ she complained.
    ‘ Well, Hawk shouldn’t be so dashed insulting,’ said her
husband impenitently.
    ‘ I like that. You began it.’
    ‘ Enough, both of you!’
    ‘ Send him away, Unice,’ begged Denzell, ‘and then you and I
may enjoy a comfortable cose about the beautiful
Verena.’
    But Osmond refused to go anywhere, repeating his conviction
that Hawk would come to grief if he meant to attempt to storm the
citadel that was Miss Verena Chaceley.
    ‘ Verena Chaceley,’ repeated Denzell, mock passionate. ‘Even
her name is music. And you give me hope, Ossie. She is still a
“miss”. Speak, Unice. I wish to know all about her.’
    ‘ Well, you won’t,’ said Osmond on a note of satisfaction.
‘For no one does. It’s a dashed mystery, if you wish to
know.’
    ‘ I do wish to know,’ Denzell retorted.
‘ What mystery? Come, Unice.’
    Mrs Ruishton capitulated, lifting the coffee pot and
refilling his cup. ‘It is not a mystery, although she is very close
and will not chatter about herself. She lives in lodgings not two
doors from here—’
    ‘ Then you are neighbours. Better and better.’ He frowned
then. ‘Lodgings? What, alone?’
    ‘ No, she resides with her mother. I believe that is why they
came here. Mrs Peverill is in the poorest of health.’
    Denzell lowered the
coffee cup from his lips.
    ‘ Peverill? I thought you said Chaceley.’
    ‘ Yes, Verena is Chaceley, but her mother is Mrs
Peverill.’
    ‘ All part of the mystery,’ put in Osmond. ‘The mother must
have remarried, but no one has been able to discover the
details.’
    ‘ Not even Mrs Felpham,’ agreed Unice. ‘She is the most
inveterate gossip, you must know, and always has the news before
anyone else. These two came here in September, just after the close
of the Season. No one saw them arrive. They just appeared among us
one day. Even Mr Tyson—our Master of Ceremonies, you know—was taken
aback. He usually presents newcomers to the town, and this time he
could not.’
    ‘ You’ve never seen anyone so put out,’ added Osmond on a
laugh. ‘Or he would have been, only that he succumbed in
minutes.’
    ‘ As did every other male in the community, including Osmond,
whatever he may say. She is so serenely beautiful that it is hardly
surprising.’
    ‘ I admire her looks, yes,’ conceded her husband. ‘Any man
would. Too cold and placid, though. I prefer a cosier armful, by
Jupiter.’
    His eyes rested with a great degree of warmth on his wife’s
face as he spoke. But Denzell did not notice. The image of Verena
Chaceley’s animated countenance was playing in his vision. He
frowned, nursing his cup between his hands.
    ‘ Cold and placid? Surely not. I give you my word, I have
rarely seen a glow of such warmth, such freshness and sparkling
enjoyment.’
    Both the Ruishtons stared at him. Then they looked at each
other.
    ‘ He cannot mean Verena,’ Unice said with conviction. ‘It
must be some other female he saw.’
    ‘ It can’t have been, dash it. Who else could have bowled him
out?’
    Unice shook her head, her, gaze returning to Denzell’s
face. ‘Verena is very beautiful, very calm, and exquisitely polite.
But I have never seen her display any sort of animation such as you
describe.’
    An odd look crossed her features, of disquiet, Denzell
thought. He