Read Online The Lightkeeper's Ball by Colleen Coble - Free Book Online

SEEMED cold and lonely. The Jespersons were purchasing necessary items in town. Olivia arranged the skirt of her dress, one of Eleanor’s she’d found upstairs, on the velvet sofa in the parlor and sipped her tea. Scones lay untouched on the silver tray.
    Servants hurried past in the hallway, and the scent of dinner being prepared wafted into the room. The aroma of roast beef was no more appetizing than the scones to her. She closed her eyes and imagined herself back home. At this time of the afternoon, her mother would be attending to correspondence and going over household bills with her secretary. The birds would be chirping on the cherry trees out back, and her cat would be lying in wait on the patio in hopes one of them would lose all caution. Before her departure, Eleanor would have been chattering about the latest party or the new dress she’d ordered.
    Olivia almost thought she could feel her sister’s presence here. She’d sensed it yesterday too. Closing her eyes, she imagined Eleanor running through these halls. She would have livened the stuffy rooms and brought excitement into every corner. Putting down the cup of tea, she rose and moved to the window. The housekeeper would know where Eleanor had been buried. Olivia intended to visit the grave this afternoon. It was something she’d been dreading. She’d much rather remember her sister with her blue eyes alight with life and laughter.
    She went to find Mrs. Bagley. The woman was supervising the polishing of silver in the butler’s pantry. Footmen rubbed at the forks and barely glanced up when Olivia stepped into the doorway.
    Mrs. Bagley turned with an armload of linens in her hands. “Lady Devonworth. I didn’t see you there. Is there something I can do for you?” The doorbell rang. “Jerry, would you get that? You’ll have to sign my name for the delivery.” She put down the linens. “How can I help you?”
    “I’d like a moment of your time, please.” Olivia walked back into the dining room with the housekeeper following her. The rest of the servants didn’t need to overhear their conversation.
    “Is something wrong, miss? Your room is not to your satisfaction?” the woman asked. “I put you in the room we’d prepared for Miss Olivia. Is she coming at all now?”
    “I’ll be the only one in residence for now,” Olivia said, skirting an outright lie. “The room is lovely, thank you. You’ve been here a long time, Mrs. Bagley?”
    Thora bobbed her head. “Ever since Mr. Stewart built the manor four years ago.”
    “Then you were present when Eleanor Stewart resided here?”
    “Of course. Much too good for the likes of Mr. Bennett.”
    “You don’t like Mr. Bennett?”
    “It’s not my place to say anything.”
    Olivia didn’t point out that the woman had just said that very thing in so many words. “Did he not treat Miss Eleanor well?”
    Mrs. Bagley sniffed. “He’s an adventurer, that one. He’ll never settle down. I fear he’s going to get my son killed one of these days.”
    “Killed? How?”
    “Him and his flying machine. He’s turned Jerry’s head with it.”
    “Harrison has a flying machine? He seems all businessman and not at all an adventurer.”
    “He’s not what you think.”
    “What is he like, then?” At some point Olivia knew the woman would clam up, but at least she was talking for now.
    “Full of notions and big plans. All the ladies cluster when he’s around.”
    Olivia could well believe that. “Did he get along with Eleanor?”
    “Miss Eleanor didn’t see much of him. He was gone when she first arrived. Quite unforgivable for him to be off gallivanting when his bride was coming.”
    “Did you see her the day she died?”
    The woman glanced up, then back to the rug on the floor. “Yes, miss.” Her tone was sullen. Though she didn’t have the nerve to question Olivia’s interest, her tense shoulders and reticent manner told the story.
    Olivia said, “I told her mother I would see what I