Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

A moment later she glimpsed a movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and saw Hugh's aunt Augusta standing at the top of the stairs in a black silk peignoir, staring at her. In the flickering gaslight she looked like a voluptuous ghost.

There was a strange look in Augusta's eyes. At first Maisie could not read her expression; then, after a moment, she understood, and she was frightened.

It was a look of triumph.

Section 5

AS SOON AS AUGUSTA SAW THE NAKED GIRL she sensed that this was her chance to get rid of Hugh once and for all.

She recognized her immediately. This was the trollop who had insulted her in the park, the one they called the Lioness. The thought had crossed her mind even then that this little minx might one day get Hugh into serious trouble: there was something arrogant and uncompromising in the set of her head and the light in her eyes. Even now, when she ought to be mortified by shame, she stood there, stark naked, and stared back at Augusta coolly. She had a magnificent body, small but shapely, with plump white breasts and a riot of sand-colored hair at her groin. Her look was so haughty that she almost made Augusta feel like the intruder. But she would be the downfall of Hugh.

The outlines of a plan were forming in Augusta's mind when suddenly she saw Edward lying on the floor with blood all over his face.

All her old fears rose up in force, and she was taken back twenty-three years, to when he had nearly died as a baby. Blind panic swamped her. "Teddy!" she screamed. "What's happened to Teddy!" She fell to her knees beside him. "Speak to me, speak to me!" she yelled. She was possessed by an unbearable dread, just as she had been when her baby kept getting thinner and thinner every day and the doctors could not understand why.

Edward sat up and groaned.

"Say something!" she pleaded.

"Don't call me Teddy," he said.

Her terror eased a fraction. He was conscious and could speak. But his voice was thick and his nose looked out of shape. "What happened?" she said.

"I caught Hugh with his whore, and he just went mad!" Edward said.

Forcing down her rage and fear, she reached out gently and touched Edward's nose. He gave a loud yelp, but permitted her to press delicately. There was nothing broken, she thought; it was just swelling up.

She heard her husband's voice say: "What the deuce is going on?"

She stood up. "Hugh has attacked Edward," she said.

"Is the boy all right?"

"I think so."

Joseph turned to Hugh. "Damnation, sir, what do you mean by it?"