The Kadin - Bertrice Small [174]
“How kind you are,” murmured Janet sweetly. “I see, dear sister, that you admire my caftan,”
“What?”
“My gown. It is called a caftan in the East A loose garment for relaxation. I have brought you one. Ruth, the scarlet caftan, and matching slippers.”
Before Anne could protest Ruth was hurrying out of the garderobe carrying a folded scarlet gown and slippers. She held it up for her mistress’s inspection, and Anne gasped The caftan’s embroidery was of tiny diamonds, turquoise and gold thread
“When Adam told me of your wonderful dark brown hair and fair complexion, I had this made for you.” Instinctively Janet had played on her sister-in-law’s vanity. “Dinna refuse me, Anne.”
For a moment the countess’s features softened as she fingered the lovely silk. “Thank you, Janet It is the loveliest thing I hae ever owned.”
“I am so pleased I chose well,” said Janet “Now, dear sister, you must excuse me. The day has been a long one, and I would rest before the dinner hour.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” replied the countess allowing herself to be led out
A few minutes later Marian returned to her mistress. “Ah, madame, the Lady Anne came to cause trouble, but you have confused her completely.”
“For the moment my friend. I was expecting an attack and acted accordingly. However, dear Anne will recover quickly and try to attack again. It will be amusing to play with her. She is her own worst enemy.”
“I am happy to see you have recovered from your melancholy,” chuckled Marian. She drew the coverlet over her mistress. “I will call you in time for dinner madame.”
Janet lay quietly, her green-gold eyes closed. I am home, she thought I have fulfilled a childhood promise and come home. I wonder what will happen next?
41
BY THE TIME ANNE LESLIE reached her apartments she was beginning to recover from the severe shock she had received upon discovering that her sister-in-law was not only beautiful, but obviously extremely wealthy. It would take a readjustment in her thinking to decide what to do and how to handle the situation. In the meantime she needed someone upon whom to vent her frustration. Unfortunately the earl chose that moment to appear in his wife’s rooms.
“Ah, my dear, I was looking for you.”
“I have been wi’ your sister—if she is yer sister. For a woman over fifty, she is remarkably youthful.”
“Isn’t she?” smiled Adam. “But then father was eighty when he died last year, and yet no one would believe his age. Most took him for sixty-five or so.”
“You look your age!”
“I also look like my mother’s family. Jan is pure Leslie.”
Anne took another tact “I can believe she’s pure Leslie. She has high-handedly appropriated the West Tower!”
“It wasn’t being used,” he replied. “I thank God my sister dinna see the room you did prepare for her! What were you thinking of, Anne? A tiny room no bigger than a nun’s cell next to the servants’ quarters in the oldest part of the castle—wi’ no fireplace and only a pallet bed and one chest”
“I believed I was receiving an elderly woman who would need peace and quiet.”
“But no heat,” finished the earl wryly. “Anne, yer a bitch! Janet is my sister, and the odds that I would find her were incredible. My father grieved most of his life for her. I only wished to heaven he’d lived another year to see her safe home. She is to hae whatever she wants in this house!”
“From what I gather she already had, m’lord. How could you sell part of our son’s inheritance? And for only 250 pounds?!”
“250 pounds gold, my dear avaricious wife.”
“Gold?”
“Gold,” smiled Adam Leslie. “And Janet is entitled to Leslie land. Like our son, she, too, was born a Leslie.” So saying, he turned on his heel, and left his countess openmouthcd.
But Anne’s ordeal for the day was not quite over. She went down to dinner to find her beautiful sister-in-law the center of a happy family gathering. Janet was clad in a simple, high-necked, long-sleeved gown of midnight blue silk with creamy lace showing at the neck, and cascading from the wrists. Her lovely hair, center parted