Read Beauty and the Spy for Free Online

stairs.
    Susannah swiveled. " Three !" She drew the vase back.
    "All right, all right, no need to take on so, miss." Surrendering, the man lowered his bundle of dresses to the stairs; the fabrics settled there with a sound like a collective sigh of relief. "I'll just move on, shall I?" He lifted his hands placatingly.
    Susannah lowered the vase and hugged it to her chest, and the man, seeing that whatever demon had possessed her a minute ago had now vacated, clambered confidently down the remainder of the stairs until he stood before her.
    "And I'll just take that, too, shall I?" he said gently.
    Susannah sighed and handed the vase to him, and he took it out the door, whistling, the very picture of no hard feelings.
    She sank down on the stairs and covered her face in her hands, breathing hard, horrified and strangely exhilarated all at once. Her father's death had unleashed a veritable Pandora's box of emotions, all of them interesting, none of them pleasant.
    She'd just threatened a man with a vase over dresses .
    Amelia was silent, and at first Susannah thought she might have left. But then she saw the toes of her friend's shoes through cracks in between her fingers: blue kid walking boots.
    "Do you suppose it was pride, Amelia?" she finally asked, pulling her hands away from her face.
    "Pride?" Amelia was staring down at her, looking distinctly nervous.
    "As in, 'goeth before a fall.'" Susannah quoted bitterly. It seemed as sensible a reason as any for the sudden collapse of her life.
    Alarmed, Amelia unconsciously touched a hand to her blond curls. " Were you proud, Susannah?"
    "Yes," Susannah said emphatically and a little cruelly, in case Amelia felt a little too proud of those blond curls and those blue kid walking boots. Amelia's hand flew from her hair and began to fuss with her skirt instead.
    There was a silence. "What are you going to do?" Amelia all but whispered, finally.
    "I—" Susannah stopped.
    The servants had been tendering their notices for days now. Good servants were hard to come by, and they'd all found new jobs easily enough; one by one they'd bid her fond but pragmatic farewells. They were all on to new lives in new places. But as for Susannah…
    Well, she knew how to run a large household. That was, she knew how to instruct servants how to run a big household. She wasn't qualified enough to be a governess, really, unless one wanted one's daughters tutored in dancing and the number of flounces considered most stylish in 1820. In short, she hadn't the faintest idea what she would do.
    Of course, there was always Mr. Dinwiddy's offer.
    Susannah was suffused with a fresh wave of hate.
    Until a few days ago, her life had been one long sunny afternoon, a song in a major key. And now… soon she wouldn't even have a place to live. Her palms went clammy, and she rubbed them against her skirt. Pride might very well have led to her fall, but it was the only remaining timber of her life, and she clutched it to her. Damned if she would give Amelia any sort of reply.
    Damned . She was growing fond of that word.
    "And Douglas… ?" Amelia added carefully, when Susannah remained silent.
    Something in Amelia's tone made Susannah look intently at her, and for the first time ever she found the face of the eminently transparent Amelia Henfrey… closed.
    So this is why she came today. She knows. She just wanted to make certain . Susannah wondered if Douglas's mama had sent a note to Amelia's mama: There's a position opening up …
    Before she could reply, Mrs. Dalton appeared, dressed for traveling in sensible dark clothing. She was the last of the current household members to leave and she, too, had acquired another young lady to oversee and plague with her dutifully judging presence. "This is for you, Miss Susannah, as a farewell," she said briskly, handing over a sampler.
    Susannah read it: charity begins at home. "Thank you, Mrs. Dalton," she said, with the irony the gift deserved.
    Mrs. Dalton nodded modestly.