The Phoenix Of Love. Susan Schonberg

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СКАЧАТЬ I can get a better look at you?”

      Obediently Olivia went to stand before her grandmother. Lady Raleigh took her time in examining Olivia. She reached out a hand and firmly grasped one of Olivia’s own, pulling the girl toward her. Squinting slightly, she studied Olivia from head to toe. Finally she spoke again.

      “Who dressed you, child.” she asked with a genuine expression of mystification, “that you look older than I?”

      Olivia thought this remark so highly amusing that she bestowed on her grandmother a smile. Or at least she thought it was a smile. In reality her eyes grew only a little warmer, and the corners of her mouth curled upward hardly at all.

      She answered the question frankly. “I chose it.”

      Lady Raleigh nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”

      In point of fact, she did not see, but she had no immediate concerns about that now. Given time, she and Olivia would get on quite famously, she was sure of that, despite the fact she had known the child for only a few minutes. The girl held her shoulders back proudly, and she did not wince or whine like other little girls. That was a good sign. Lady Raleigh didn’t like whiners.

      The old woman beckoned the girl to sit down in a chair across from her. Waiting until Olivia had seated herself, she began her quizzing. “What have you heard about me?” she demanded.

      Olivia looked at her elder with candor. “Not much.”

      “What exactly does that mean…not much?”

      Again her lips hinted at a smile. “Not much good.”

      Lady Raleigh leaned forward in her seat, trying to get a good look at Olivia. As if she thought she could startle a confession out of her, she barked, “What do you think of me?”

      Olivia’s expression turned ever so slightly wary. But her eyes were still cool. “I’m not sure.”

      “Well,” replied her grandmother, leaning back a little in her chair after she had completed her own examination, “I shall be honest with you. You are not what I expected.”

      Lady Raleigh waited for a reaction. She didn’t get one. Nonplussed, she continued. “No, whatever monstrosity I had expected Edgar to raise, you certainly are not it.” Her look was approving. “You act very poised, Olivia, just like a young lady. You impress me.”

      Olivia couldn’t break her gaze from her grandmother’s. Her eyes were positively mesmerizing. Was this what it was like to be on the other side of her stare? Unsure, she replied, “Thank you.”

      At that moment, a knock on the door announced the arrival of a visitor. The innkeeper’s wife, having.regained her earlier blustery manner, came into the room like a ship under full sail. Setting the refreshments out, she kept up a constant stream of chatter, not once noticing that her conversation was completely one-sided.

      For Olivia, the interruption was an opportunity to reflect on her own impressions. She decided that Lady Raleigh was not what she had expected, either. From her father’s countless tirades, she had expected her grandmother to be a veritable dragoness. Oh, she had a bark… Olivia could see that, but she doubted the frail body before her had much of a bite. She narrowed her eyes a little as her thoughts steamed onward, but it was the only change in expression she allowed herself. At least until she got a good look at the spread laid out by the landlady.

      With the woman gone and the food before them, Lady Raleigh was about to continue her conversation when she noticed Olivia’s expression. The child was not as good at hiding her feelings as she thought she was, Lady Raleigh noticed. The stare Olivia was giving the hot, buttered scones was practically burning a hole in the table.

      In truth, Olivia was very smitten with the idea of biting into one of the scones. It had been so long since she had had anything like them. Looking hungrily at the treats before her, Olivia had to use all of her willpower not to reach out and snatch one.

      Lady Raleigh’s words broke into her thoughts. “Go ahead, girl,” she offered kindly. “Take one while they are still hot.”

      Olivia started to reach for a scone and then abruptly remembered her manners. “Wouldn’t you care for a scone, Grandmama?” she asked with all of the graciousness of a grown hostess.

      Lady Raleigh, pleased at both her granddaughter’s polite behavior and her new name, shook her head. “I believe I’ll wait,” she replied.

      While Olivia finished her scone and sat eyeing another one, Lady Raleigh continued their discussion. “Do you miss your father, Olivia?” she asked in a clipped voice.

      Unsure of how to answer such a question, Olivia took a moment to think about it as she finished chewing her food. She regarded her grandmother seriously. “I accept my loss.”

      “That’s a rather grown-up attitude for someone as young as you,” the lady replied.

      Olivia shrugged her shoulders delicately. Her grandmother had meant no offense by the comment and none was taken. Still she wasn’t sure how to respond to her. For the moment, she decided not to try.

      Lady Raleigh continued. “I do not pretend to have had any affection for Edgar, Olivia. He stole my daughter away from me and her rightful heritage and I cannot forgive him for that.” She added almost as an afterthought. “I can’t forgive her, either.”

      Olivia regarded her grandparent gravely. In a quiet voice, she told her, “Papa blamed you for Mama’s death.”

      Instead of snorting in disgust as Olivia was sure her relative would do, Lady Raleigh sat still, as if stunned by this bit of information. But after a moment she regained some of her composure and replied with an indication of uneasiness, “I do not doubt that my daughter and I caused each other grief during our respective lifetimes, but I can hardly be held accountable for her death. Your father never did want to see anything for what it really was. That’s one reason, although it is hardly the only one, my husband and I disapproved of the match.”

      Olivia’s eyebrows quirked together in puzzlement. “One reason?”

      “Yes.” Lady Raleigh’s own eyebrows drew together in a frown. “Olivia—your mother, that is—was engaged to an earl when she ran off with your father. The wedding papers were all but signed. We had no choice but to cut her.” She gazed at Olivia with brutal frankness. “She was a fool and she should have known better.”

      Olivia took her time thinking this over. Up until now she had only her father’s version of the story. It was interesting to hear another version of an event that had caused so many people bitterness and pain. Still she felt somewhat unaffected by the whole affair—as if the story were an entertaining bit of gossip about someone else’s family.

      Without warning, Lady Raleigh changed the topic. “You will be coming to London to live with me.” Her voice brooked no argument. “My husband died some years ago, leaving me a widow. The estate in Sussex went to my nephew, a pompous young man whom I detest, but he was kind enough to let me live in the dowager house, if I so chose. I detest the country, however, and live year-round in London instead. I have a house on Wimpole Street. It’s not overly large, you understand, but more than adequate for the pair of us.” She looked at Olivia expectantly.

      Not wishing to offend her grandmother, she replied, “I’m sure it is quite nice.”

      Lady СКАЧАТЬ