Read Online The Strange Story of Linda Lee by Dennis Wheatley - Free Book Online
Authors: Dennis Wheatley
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up in her girlhood when reading some cheap novelette. Then it occurred to Linda that she had met one, or at least, if her mother knew about dear, plump, rosy-cheeked Rowley, she would regard him in that light. But ‘trouble’—no. Linda had no intention of letting him put her in the family way. By now she knew quite well how to look after herself.
About brother Sid having also withheld his address she was not at all surprised. After all, he had made off with the best part of two hundred pounds of Pa’s money. And Pa could be vicious mentally as well as physically. He might quite well have demanded it back and, if Sid failed to pay up, put the police on to him. She wondered what sort of job Sid could have got with the Municipality of Montreal. It sounded quite important, which was surprising, as his education had been no better than her own. Still, he had a streak of their father’s hard forcefulness in him, and he might have struck lucky.
As for ‘writing again soon’—definitely not. She could tell her mother nothing about the life she was really leading, so what was there to write about? She would send her another five pounds now and again, ina plain envelope, but she had no intention whatsoever of entering on even an occasional exchange of letters.
Within a fortnight Linda had both taken over the household and had insisted on being run in by Miss Adams, to replace her as Rowley’s secretary. Although she had failed to master shorthand, she was a competent touch-typist, and took his letters straight on to the machine. Naturally, the strange symbols and fantastic calculations Rowley used to work out his problems on nuclear energy were as meaningless to her as they had been to Miss Adams; but she typed out very neatly the essays he wrote in longhand, and filed all his papers efficiently.
During August Rowley gave several small dinner parties to introduce Linda to his friends. She slipped easily into her new role as his hostess and they all soon accepted her as a pleasant new acquaintance.
Eric twice stayed the night and plainly showed his liking for his new ‘niece’. Each time he came he brought her flowers and gave her an avuncular kiss on the cheek. The more she saw of him the more attracted to him she became, and there were times when she had difficulty in putting out of her mind that it was of him she thought every time Rowley made love to her. Several times she decided that she must try to break herself of this habit; but by then it had become such an essential part to her giving herself unrestrainedly to Rowley that she found she could not do so without imagining herself to be in the younger man’s arms.
In September Rowley took her to Venice. For Linda their stay at Cipriani’s was another revelation. They spent their mornings either in or by the splendid swimming pool, and lunched and dined on the garden terrace looking out toward the Lido. In the afternoonsthey went ashore to visit the galleries and the many beautiful churches, then listened to the bands in St. Mark’s Square, outside Florian’s and Quardi’s, while drinking Camparis before returning for dinner.
In January they went for three weeks to Nice, where Rowley hired a car to take them for expeditions up to St. Paul de Vence or to Cannes, Beaulieu, St. Tropez and Monte Carlo. Walking along the Promenade des Anglais in the winter sunshine, she became more radiant than ever, and wherever they went heads turned to look at her.
In May they went to Paris. The chestnut trees were in blossom, the girls gay in their new summer dresses. They lunched and dined in the best restaurants, went to night clubs, visited the Louvre, Notre-Dame, the Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette had been imprisoned, the Sacré Cœur, the Invalides, and drove out to Versailles and Fontainebleau.
Between their stays on the Continent, their life in London continued happily. They regularly gave little dinner parties and were asked back in return. Rowley’s friends
About brother Sid having also withheld his address she was not at all surprised. After all, he had made off with the best part of two hundred pounds of Pa’s money. And Pa could be vicious mentally as well as physically. He might quite well have demanded it back and, if Sid failed to pay up, put the police on to him. She wondered what sort of job Sid could have got with the Municipality of Montreal. It sounded quite important, which was surprising, as his education had been no better than her own. Still, he had a streak of their father’s hard forcefulness in him, and he might have struck lucky.
As for ‘writing again soon’—definitely not. She could tell her mother nothing about the life she was really leading, so what was there to write about? She would send her another five pounds now and again, ina plain envelope, but she had no intention whatsoever of entering on even an occasional exchange of letters.
Within a fortnight Linda had both taken over the household and had insisted on being run in by Miss Adams, to replace her as Rowley’s secretary. Although she had failed to master shorthand, she was a competent touch-typist, and took his letters straight on to the machine. Naturally, the strange symbols and fantastic calculations Rowley used to work out his problems on nuclear energy were as meaningless to her as they had been to Miss Adams; but she typed out very neatly the essays he wrote in longhand, and filed all his papers efficiently.
During August Rowley gave several small dinner parties to introduce Linda to his friends. She slipped easily into her new role as his hostess and they all soon accepted her as a pleasant new acquaintance.
Eric twice stayed the night and plainly showed his liking for his new ‘niece’. Each time he came he brought her flowers and gave her an avuncular kiss on the cheek. The more she saw of him the more attracted to him she became, and there were times when she had difficulty in putting out of her mind that it was of him she thought every time Rowley made love to her. Several times she decided that she must try to break herself of this habit; but by then it had become such an essential part to her giving herself unrestrainedly to Rowley that she found she could not do so without imagining herself to be in the younger man’s arms.
In September Rowley took her to Venice. For Linda their stay at Cipriani’s was another revelation. They spent their mornings either in or by the splendid swimming pool, and lunched and dined on the garden terrace looking out toward the Lido. In the afternoonsthey went ashore to visit the galleries and the many beautiful churches, then listened to the bands in St. Mark’s Square, outside Florian’s and Quardi’s, while drinking Camparis before returning for dinner.
In January they went for three weeks to Nice, where Rowley hired a car to take them for expeditions up to St. Paul de Vence or to Cannes, Beaulieu, St. Tropez and Monte Carlo. Walking along the Promenade des Anglais in the winter sunshine, she became more radiant than ever, and wherever they went heads turned to look at her.
In May they went to Paris. The chestnut trees were in blossom, the girls gay in their new summer dresses. They lunched and dined in the best restaurants, went to night clubs, visited the Louvre, Notre-Dame, the Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette had been imprisoned, the Sacré Cœur, the Invalides, and drove out to Versailles and Fontainebleau.
Between their stays on the Continent, their life in London continued happily. They regularly gave little dinner parties and were asked back in return. Rowley’s friends
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