Read Online The Harlow Hoyden by Lynn Messina - Free Book Online Page B

and I are twins. What good is an adventure about twins without a case of mistaken identity?” She gave her dear friend a kiss on the cheek, promised to see her soon and went outside into the chilly March air. Miss Emma Harlow was much satisfied with this morning’s work. She might not have settled on the details yet, but she expected that withina month she’ll have extracted Sir Waldo Windbag from their lives. It was a lovely prospect.
    When Emma arrived home, she found Sarah in the parlor, staring blankly into the fireplace. Her needlework lay untouched on her lap and her eyes were red from tears.
    “Sarah darling,” Emma said, flying to her sister-in-law’s side and kneeling at her feet, “how distressed look you. Whatever is the matter?”

    “It’s Roger,” she said, faintly, turning her eyes away from the flame.
    Emma gasped. “He isn’t…”
    “No, dear, he isn’t. But he has been hurt just the same.” Fresh tears began to trickle down Sarah’s face. “They had to amputate—his left arm. My dear, darling Roger.”
    “Come here, darling,” Emma said, pulling Sarah into her arms and murmuring words of comfort. “He’s alive, dearest, that’s allthat matters. He doesn’t need both arms.”
    “I know that, Emma. I’m not crying because he lost an arm. Really, I’m not such a ninny as that. He can hold me tight enough with one arm.” Sarah sat back in her chair and straightened her hair. “I’m crying because of all the pain he must have suffered, all the pain he must be suffering still. It’s unbearable. I should be with him. It should be my handhe holds on to for comfort.”
    Never one for inaction, the Harlow Hoyden considered this problem and arrived instantly at a workable solution. “Very well, we’ll leave this instant. I’ll throw a few things into a bag and have Dobson pack one for you as well. We will be in France by nightfall.”
    For the first time since getting the dreadful news an hour before, Sarah laughed. “France is many milesaway. We cannot reach it by dark.”
    “Well, Dover then,” she said reasonably. “We will take a boat across the Channel first thing in the morning. I better tell Dobson not to prepare dinner for us. And I must leave a note for Lavinia. Where’s my sister anyway? She should have been here to comfort you when the news came. Is she in the conservatory? Really, Sarah, all you had to do is send Ludlowto fetch her. She would have gladly abandoned the Rhyncholaelia digbyana for you.”
    “Emma, we cannot reach Dover before nightfall.”
    “Yes, we can,” she answered, distractedly. She was trying to compile a list of things she would need for the journey. She would leave Ellen here, of course. An abigail would just slow them down, and Sarah was all the companion she needed to put the stamp of respectabilityon it.
    “No, we can’t, my dear. It is too far away.”
    Emma smiled. “Not the way I drive.”
    “No, dear, it’s very sweet of you, of course, but I must insist that you stop in your wild notion. We will not go tearing off after Roger in a curricle,” she said, thinking of all the things that could go wrong with such a plan.
    “All right,” said Emma with that faraway calculating look in her eye, “ we won’t go tearing off after Roger.”
    Sarah knew her sister-in-law too well to accept this statement without further caveats. “And you will not go on your own. You will sit here and comfort me and not move from my side. I don’t want you sneaking off under the cover of darkness, either, as soon as my back is turned. I’ll have your word on this matter.”
    Since this was exactly what Emma had plannedto do, she gave her word with a petulant look. She knew she shouldn’t burden Sarah with her bad temper, but sitting around waiting for news was not her style. She preferred to chase after things, rather than let them come to her. “All right, dearest, I give my word, but only because you look so worried. Really, Sarah, you needn’t