Read The Spider's Touch for Free Online Page A

wondering why you would not choose to write to him yourself?”
    “I shall be writing it, Dame Prig. The letter is to be from me, but Mayfield insists that he cannot read my writing, and I must have him understand. This is too important. So, sit and write what I tell you to.”
    Hester sat at the small bureau and took out paper and ink. She checked the quill, but, as usual in this well-governed household, it had already been sharpened. As she put her pen to paper and began with her aunt’s salutation, she braced herself for a blatant piece of self-serving foolishness.
    For Mrs. Mayfield’s letter was just that. She exhorted her son to abandon his siblings and his land to travel to Hawkhurst House as soon as was possible. She told him that his new brother-in-law, her dear Lord Hawkhurst, was anxious to see to his advancement and would welcome him with open arms. Although Hester knew this to be a fabrication, she did not remonstrate, for she also knew that nothing would divert her aunt from a course designed for her own aggrandizement.
    She thought she had hidden her reaction to these lies fairly well, until her aunt said, “And you needn’t sigh like that, Goody Kean!  I know very well what I’m doing. And there is no reason why Mayfield shouldn’t get a share of my lord’s influence, when every Tom, Dick and Harry is asking for the same.
    “Besides,” she said, “I have quite another reason for bringing Mayfield here. And if I tell him what it is, he will keep on shooting and riding with his friends and refuse to come.”
    “ Another reason?”
    “Yes, Sir Humphrey Cove’s sister, Mrs. Jamison, is quite the matchmaker, I’m told. She is a widow, but her husband was a merchant in the City, so she has an abundance of relations with persons of that sort. I want her to find Mayfield a splendid match. They say she found Lord Lunley’s son an heiress, and if she can do that for a coxcomb with nothing to recommend him but a squint and a pair of spindly legs, she can very well do it for my son.”
    Since Hester knew that the success of any matchmaking on Dudley’s behalf would depend entirely on Mrs. Mayfield’s ability to extract money from her son-in-law for a settlement, she could not doubt that this statement was true.
    * * * *
    Before Dudley arrived, Mrs. Mayfield paid a visit to Mrs. Jamison and engaged her interest. Mrs. Jamison promised to come up with a list of possible brides, so there was nothing more for Mrs. Mayfield to do than wait for the unwitting bridegroom to arrive. She was afforded an opportunity to discuss the list in advance when Sir Humphrey brought his sister to Hawkhurst House one evening.
    Isabella always preferred to go out, but even she knew that a lady must sometimes be at home to welcome her friends. A steady stream of visitors had passed through her drawing-room since eight o’clock. Most had not lingered, but had moved on to other houses where, Hester suspected, they would find the conversation more enlightening. The ones who stayed were Harrowby’s usual cronies, and they made themselves comfortable on the satin and velvet cushions.
    Lord Lovett had brought a friend with him, a Colonel Potter of the Foot-Guards. He was a tall, lean gentleman with a military bearing. Neither a brown shoulder-length periwig nor a sandy moustache could conceal his complexion, which was decidedly red. Every inch on his face and hands was covered in large, reddish freckles, and his face was set in sullen lines.
    His career had not taught him the necessary skills for a lady’s drawing-room, for he paid Isabella only scant courtesy and ignored every other woman present, before turning his attention exclusively on Harrowby. Even from where she sat in a corner, Hester could see that the Colonel’s conversation was far too sober for Harrowby’s tastes. Lord Lovett occasionally tried to lighten it by throwing his friend a sally, but even though the Colonel often attempted to respond in kind, his humour was