entrance also silenced Miss Foster, thank heavens for that at least. An instant later Graham Foster, his brother, houseguest, and several footmen went silent, their fierceness fading to puzzlement as they took in the scene.
Frederick Foster was the first roused from bewilderment. âLetty, for pityâs sake.â His words were slurred and breathless. âAre you hurt?â
âI caught
her
ransacking the place.â Miss Letitia jabbed a forefinger in Moiraâs direction. âSheâs a
thief.â
âBlazing hell.â Graham Foster tugged his neck cloth and scowled. With a backward wave, he dismissed the footmen. âLetty, we thought someone had a knife to your throat.â
âLook what sheâs
done.â
Miss Foster swept her arm in an arc that encompassed the disheveled room. âWe must have her arrested at
once.â
âFor untidiness?â
âFor thievery!â
âGood grief, thereâs nothing in this room to steal,â Graham said. âI doubt sheâs loaded her apron with books and writing paper.â
Letitia Foster hoisted her chin. âThen what on earth
is
she doing?â
Oh, dear. All gazes turned to Moira, huddled and shaking in the window recess. In that instant she understood the discomfiture of the fox held pinioned to a tree by barking, salivating hounds. She swore then and there sheâd never join a hunt again, not even for the exercise.
Ah, but they were waiting for an answer.
âYes, well, Iâ¦you see, I was in the process ofâ¦â She glanced at each expectant face in turn: Miss Letitia, Mr. Frederick, the houseguest, and, finally, Graham Foster. Her mouth ran dry. It was the way he peered back at her. Since entering the room heâd barely spared her a glance, focusing his annoyance on his sister. Now his scrutiny caressed her up and down and deepened with the inescapable dawning of recognition.
âMoira Hughes.â His mouth curved with the familiar impudence, raising the hairs on her nape. âMoira, Moira. What a delightful surprise.â He lengthened the syllables of her name, pronouncing each with evident pleasure as though savoring a spoonful of honey. âOr are you Mary Houser today?â
âThe former, my lord,â she returned as flames leapt to the tips of her ears.
âYou
know
this creature?â His sister flashed an incredulous look that turned speculative in the next instant. âMoira Hughes? Isnât that ourâ¦â
Miss Fosterâs question died on lips gone suddenly and alarmingly chalky. Her hand clawed at her throat as her mouth widened in terror.
Moira clapped her hands over her ears as Letitia Foster let loose a fresh round of screams that far outdid her earlier ones. The room once more dissolved into a confusion of voices and movement. The younger Mr. Foster scrambled away while their houseguest raised his voice in an explanation no one could hear.
To her own indescribable horror, Moira discovered the source of the uproar. It wasâ¦good heavensâ¦the most hideous thing sheâd ever seen in all her life. A spider, but bigger, thicker, uglier than any sheâd ever imagined, a monstrosity from deepest, darkest nightmare, with fearsome clawlike pincers and furry brown legs that bent and stretched with a leisurely grace that made it all the more grotesque.
The leaded casements dug into her spine as she tried to shrink from that dreadful, hairy, revolting creature creeping along Graham Fosterâs coat sleeve.
And yetâ¦
.he
regarded it as calmly as you please. He evenâugh, Moira looked away, then couldnât help peekingâallowed the monster to crawl into his palm.
âLetty, do stop that infernal shrieking,â he said with a weary roll of his eyes. âIsis is merely an African sun spider. Sheâs quite harmless, completely tame, and certainly nothing to warrant permanently deafening the lot of
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