Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 07] - Married Past Redemption Read Free Page A

to
Lisette—"like the bristles of a worn brush."
    To be rudely awakened for any cause upset Humphrey Van
Lindsay, and to be rudely awakened before nine o'clock in the morning
had thrown him into a passion. He was a large man with a larger voice,
given to making hasty judgments and adhering to them with bulldog
tenacity, so that there were many" who considered him to merit a
brilliant future in politics. There were others, of course, who
considered him to be a loud-mouthed idiot and an intolerable snob. The
latter charge, at least, was justified. Humphrey was almost as
conscious of social position as was his spouse and considered that in
wedding Philippa Bayes-Copeland he had pulled off the coup of the
century (an opinion she shared). She was the only person who could
manoeuvre him, which she did with firmness and regularity, and being
well suited they enjoyed a reasonably happy marriage, despite their
precarious monetary situation. There was little evidence of connubial
bliss at the moment, however, for between Mrs. Van Lindsay's strident
demands for an explanation, Judith's decision that her safest course
was to launch into hysterics, and Humphrey's bellowing rage, the scene
more nearly resembled bedlam.
    Experienced in such fiascos, Lisette said two magical words:
"The servants!" At once, the elder Van Lindsays stifled their rancour.
They all adjourned to Judith's bedroom and closed the door.
    "Will you stop, Judith?" Philippa enquired. "Or must I slap
you?"
    Thus appealed to, Judith lowered her shrieks a few decibels to
spasmodic sobs, between which she opined that her brother was a hideous
brute, a sadistic savage, and the greatest beast in nature. "Look," she
wept, holding up a much folded piece of tissue paper. "Only look what
he d-did! It is a pattern of Ruth MacKay's new party dress. Elinor
copied it for me, and—and Norman met her last evening and
p-prom-promised to give it me. But—look!
Look!"
    Snorting his wrath, her sire opened the pattern. This took a
few minutes and seemed to involve an inordinate amount of paper. "Good…
gad!" he breathed, holding up what must only be a garment for a giant.
"Surely, this is the wrong size, Judith?"
    His daughter uttered a new shriek of rageful chagrin and cast
herself on the bed. Over her recumbent form, the eyes of her sister and
her mama met, alight with guilty laughter. Recovering herself, Philippa
snatched the paper from her spouse's hands. "Of course it is not her
size, Mr. Van Linsday!"
    Humphrey had seen the twinkle in her eyes, and mirth crept
into his own.
    "Er—oh!" he said. "I see the light. Copied it, did he?"
    "And enlarged it, Papa," Lisette nodded, stroking her sister's
tangled hair comfortingly.
    "Yes. I can—ah, tell he's spread it out a bit," he chortled.
    "By a good four sizes!" said Mrs. Van Lindsay.
    "Four!" howled the maligned Judith. "
Forty
,
more like! I am
not
that fat, Papa! I am
not
!"
    "Norman," said Mrs. Van Lindsay sternly, "must be spoken to,
sir."
    "Quite so. Yes, I'll—ah—see if I can find the lad…" And
Humphrey deserted the scene in favour of his bedchamber, whence soon
emanated gales of laughter.
    Mrs. Van Lindsay proceeded to make it clear to her stricken
offspring that while she did not approve of Norman's teasing, Judith
should perhaps consider that the model he had been attempting to
construct in the bottle might well have meant as much to him as did the
dress pattern to Judith. "One thing," she murmured to Lisette, as she
walked to the door, "it has put your father into a very good humour,
which is more than I'd hoped for when first I heard that uproar!"
    Mr. Humphrey's good humour endured, and later that morning,
when Lisette was summoned to the drawing room, she found him awaiting
her, his broad features wreathed in smiles. "How pretty you look,
child," he beamed. "Come and chat with your papa for a few moments."
    Lisette sat obediently, but whatever he had in mind he
evidently hesitated to broach, for during the next ten