Read The Earl With the Secret Tattoo for Free Online Page B

or precious gems, she wasn’t interested.
    “And when we left the next day,” Janice went on, “Gregory was still wearing it on
     a string around his neck when we were robbed.”
    “Do you recall how the robber was choking him and he couldn’t breathe?” Cynthia asked
     her.
    “Yes,” said Eleanor in a whisper. She remembered all too clearly.
    “The boys and I think it was the bad luck of the talisman that made that happen,”
     Cynthia said. “Which is why Janice got rid of it.”
    “You did?” Eleanor saw a little old lady across from them demanding attention with
     her toast.
    “The elder Miss Jensen needs you,” Janice whispered to Cynthia.
    “All right,” Cynthia said reluctantly, and went to assist her with the spreading of
     jam on her toast.
    Janice rolled her eyes. “You can make the argument that the talisman actually saved
     Robert from a worse gash, or perhaps prevented Peter from being kicked in the head.
     As for Gregory, it might have protected him from being killed by those robbers.” Janice
     smiled and shrugged. “So Marcia and I only pretended to get rid of it.”
    “I like how you think.” Eleanor smiled back. “Do you have it here?”
    Janice nodded. “Would you like to see it?”
    “Certainly.”
    They made excuses to Lady Brady. Cynthia sent them burning looks as she sat dutifully
     attending the Jensen sisters. Upstairs, Janice led Eleanor to a bedchamber with three
     beds.
    “We’re all three in the same room still,” she said with a laugh. “We’ve never bothered
     to move mine or Marcia’s things, and we enjoy the rare times we can still be together.”
     A small wrinkled formed on her smooth brow. “Although the few days Marcia has come
     to London the past several years, she’s never stayed over.”
    “Really? She’s only in Surrey.”
    “I know.” Janice sighed. “But she’s terribly busy during the school year. We see her
     in Ireland in the summers, and that’s it. But I’m busy, too, so I can’t complain about
     her absence. I have one more term to go at my boarding school in Switzerland. Perhaps
     next year when I make my come-out, I’ll have my own bedchamber.”
    “I think it’s lovely,” Eleanor said, feeling wistful. She and Clare had never slept
     in the same bedchamber, ever. When the Sherwood girls were together, did they talk
     at night? Laugh? Share stories?
    Of course, they must. She remembered those long-ago nights when she’d been among their
     number. She’d squeezed in with Marcia, usually, as they were the closest in age.
    Quickly, before loneliness could grip her, she focused on what Janice was doing.
    “I have a key here,” Janice murmured, and opened a jewelry box. “It goes to a tiny
     tin satchel I gave to Cynthia long ago for her favorite doll, Kitty.”
    “No,” said Eleanor. “The talisman’s in Kitty’s satchel?”
    “Yes.” Janice giggled. “That’s my latest hiding place. I usually keep it with me at
     boarding school.” She took the key and opened the little satchel. “It’s wrapped in
     rice paper, and Cynthia hasn’t guessed it’s there. She doesn’t play with Kitty anymore,
     but she likes having her nearby. Am I entirely awful for hiding the token there?”
    “Yes.” Eleanor chuckled. “You’re wicked.”
    Janice blushed. “I think Cynthia’s old enough that right before I leave and take it
     back with me to school, I’ll tell her about it. I want to prove to her that one shouldn’t
     let superstitions rule a person. A woman has a mind as sharp as a man’s, and she should
     use it. They’ve plenty of superstitions in Switzerland, and I refuse to believe any
     of them. As for my brothers and their silliness over the matter of the talisman, I
     think most of that was put on to frighten Cynthia—the blackguards.”
    “Indeed,” said Eleanor, but she could tell Janice didn’t really think they were. She
     didn’t, either.
    “We tease each other quite a bit,” Janice explained.