The Mystery Of An Old Murder Read Free Page A

prettier and sweeter and dearer than ever," cried Marjorie fondly. "But there are father and Mr. Bulteel waiting for us at the gate. Am I walking too fast, Aunt Nell? You look so pale. I wish you would let me go and read to Nancy tomorrow. Her room is always so hot, it tires you out."
    "Yes, I am very tired," Miss Lane said. She had felt herself begin to tremble in every limb as she caught sight of Mr. Bulteel at the gate. It was so many years since she had seen anyone from St. Mawan. "But let us hasten on, dear. They are coming to meet us."
    Miss Lane had been right in thinking that Mr. Bulteel would find her changed. He found it difficult at first to realize that she was indeed that merry, light-hearted girl he had known fourteen years before. The bloom of youth had gone from her face, the sparkle from her eyes; she looked years older than Marjorie's mother. But as they walked back to the house and stood talking before the porch in the soft evening light, he saw how beautiful she was still, more beautiful than she had ever been. Her face had gained far more than it had lost; it had a charm beyond all mere youthful prettiness. And though there were depths in her eyes a smile never reached, it was not a sad face; a ready, cheerful sympathy spoke in every look. He understood what Mrs. Drew had meant by calling her their guardian angel. It was plain that the rector and Marjorie were devoted to her. Whenever she spoke they turned to listen, as if her lightest word were too precious to be lost.
    When Mrs. Drew and Mrs. Bulteel came downstairs, Marjorie slipped away, in obedience to a whispered word from her mother.
    She went to her room and changed her dress, and then stole softly into her mother's room, where Kitty still lay asleep on the big sofa.
    Kitty opened her eyes presently, and after gazing round her in a bewildered way for a moment or two, lifted herself on her elbow to get a better view of Marjorie, who was curled up on the broad cushioned window-seat with a book in her hand.
    "I am awake," she said after a moment, in a slightly plaintive voice. She thought Marjorie ought not to have been so absorbed in her book as to be unaware that her nap was over.
    Marjorie jumped lightly up and came towards her. "Are you rested?" she said cheerfully. "Tea will be ready soon."
    Kitty lay looking at her for a moment without replying. She had no fault to find with Marjorie's white dress, scanty in the skirt and very short in the waist, with its frills of dainty lace round neck and sleeves. And her coral necklace was almost as good as Kitty's own. But her fair curly hair was arranged in quite a childish fashion, and Kitty reflected with much complacency on the high comb her mother had given her for a Christmas present, and which she meant to wear that evening.
    "I must have been asleep nearly an hour," she said, after her deliberate survey of Marjorie from head to foot. "It is getting dark, isn't it? How could you see to read by this light? Madame Le Clair would never let me read in a bad light; it hurts the eyes. She was my governess. She was really the Marquise Le Clair; her husband was guillotined by those dreadful French people who killed the king and Marie Antoinette. They took away all her estates, and she has to teach for a living. It was a great advantage for me to be taught by her. But I have no governess now, my education is finished. I suppose you have lessons still. Do you go to school, or have you a governess?"
    "I have two, mother and Aunt Nell," said Marjorie smiling. She was very much relieved to find that Kitty was ready to talk. She had feared that conversation would be difficult. "And father teaches me a little too. But tell me about your French governess, Madame la Marquise. Poor woman, how sad for her to lose everything!"
    "Oh, she was very cheerful! And you would never have guessed that she was noble. She looked just a brown-faced, shabby old woman. And, good gracious, how strict she was! She would make me enter