Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

"Rehabilitate her. You know what it's like to be looked down on because of your background. You overcame all that prejudice."

"And now I'm supposed to work the same transformation on every other guttersnipe who marries into society?" Maisie snapped.

"I've obviously done something wrong," Solly said worriedly. "I thought you'd be glad to help, you've always been so fond of Hugh."

Maisie went to her cupboard for her gloves. "I wish you'd consulted me first." She opened the cupboard. On the back of the door, framed in wood, hung the old poster she had saved from the circus, showing her in tights, standing on the back of a white horse, over the legend "The Amazing Maisie." The picture jerked her out of her tantrum and she suddenly felt ashamed of herself. She ran to Solly and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Solly, how can I be so ungrateful?"

"There, there," he murmured, stroking her bare shoulders.

"You've been so kind and generous to me and my family, of course I'll do this for you, if you wish."

"I'd hate to force you into something--"

"No, no, you're not forcing me. Why shouldn't I help her get what I got?" She looked at her husband's chubby face, creased now with lines of anxiety. She stroked his cheek. "Stop worrying. I was being horribly selfish for a minute but it's over. Go and put your jacket on. I'm ready." She stood on tiptoe and kissed his lips, then turned away and put on her gloves.

She knew what had really made her cross. The irony of the situation was bitter. She was being asked to train Nora for the role of Mrs. Hugh Pilaster--the position Maisie herself had longed to occupy. In her innermost heart she still wanted to be Hugh's wife, and she hated Nora for winning what she had lost. All in all it was a shameful attitude and Maisie resolved to drop it. She should be glad Hugh had married. He had been very unhappy, and it was at least partly her fault. Now she could stop worrying about him. She felt a sense of loss, if not grief, but she should keep those feelings locked away in a room no one ever entered. She would throw herself energetically into the task of bringing Nora Pilaster back into the good graces of London's high society.