Read Online The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi by Mark Hodder - Free Book Online Page B

husband’s name. He already has two mistresses. But he’s a rich pig, so I can’t complain. There are women with worse husbands; the variety of man that remains at home in the evenings and insists on conversation, for instance. The fifth of November, Richard, the fifth of November.”
    â€œWhat about it? Do you intend to throw him onto a bonfire? I didn’t think you Catholics celebrated Guy Fawkes Night.”
    â€œWe Catholics don’t. It’s the date my parents have set for your engagement party. They’d prefer that my sister’s marriage be founded on financial security, as mine is—I think they’re rather intimidated by such concepts as love and passion—but they’ve bowed to the inevitable. Great-Uncle Gerard has agreed to host the party at New Wardour Castle, and if you wish to bring guests, you have his leave to do so.”
    Burton looked at Isabel and arched an eyebrow. “Have you been doping your parents?”
    She laughed. “No, just driving them to the brink of madness by singing your praises at every opportunity. But I think it was the knighthood that finally swayed them.”
    â€œOh. You know about that? Good grief! Was I the last to be told?”
    â€œI heard it from Monckton Milnes. You know what a great depository of knowledge, gossip, and secrets he is.”
    â€œNot so much secrets, it would appear.”
    Burton indicated that Blanche should resume her seat and Isabel take the other armchair. He dragged over a padded chair from beside one of the desks and sat facing them.
    Isabel reached for his hand and held it. She said, “You won’t object to the party, will you?”
    â€œI’ll concede to it,” he replied, “but we’ll keep the wedding itself a small affair, as we agreed—yes?—for a grand marriage ceremony is a barbarous and an indelicate exhibition.”
    Isabel first laughed then frowned. “Your face. What was this mishap you mentioned?”
    â€œYes, brother-in-law-to-be,” Blanche added. “You look a hideous mess.”
    He dismissed the question with a wave. “Thank you, Blanche. It’s really nothing to worry about. I tripped.”
    Blanche giggled. “Months and months in dangerous Africa and as soon as you’re home, you fall flat on your face.”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œWas the safari very difficult?” Isabel asked. “Why did it take so much longer than predicted?”
    â€œThe Orpheus ’s engines failed,” he replied. “Some five hundred miles north of the lakes, they simply packed up. The engineers couldn’t find a thing to explain it. What little wind there was came from the west—the dirigible couldn’t even float southward—so Sadhvi, Bill, George, and I left it and continued on foot. We followed the upper Nile through a chain of swamps and lakes until we arrived at its source—waterfalls descending from the Nyanza, which is practically an inland sea. We then skirted around its western shore, past the Mountains of the Moon, until we came to the water’s southernmost point. While we were doing all that, the breeze altered direction, allowing Captain Lawless to drift the Orpheus over the eastern shores of the Nyanza then southward to an Arabic outpost called Kazeh. He set up camp there and paid natives to spread the news of the ship’s location. The information eventually reached us and we rejoined our colleagues. A few days later, we discovered that the engines had miraculously come back to life and immediately set course for Zanzibar.”
    The door opened and Mrs. Angell entered with a tea tray. She gave Blanche an approving glance, pleased to see that propriety was being observed and Isabel was correctly chaperoned, then set the tray down on a table.
    â€œShall I pour?” she asked.
    â€œIt’s all right, Mrs. Angell,” Isabel said. “Leave it to me.”
    â€œI’ll lay