A Good Woman Read Online Free PDF

imagine Annabelle doing that, and he suspected she was right, her mother would have a fit. She wanted Annabelle to have a far more traditional life, to get married and have children, hence her debut.
    “I never wanted to be a doctor,” he confessed. “But I did want to join the circus when I was about ten or twelve.” She laughed as he said it, it was such a funny thing to admit to. “I loved the animals, and I always wanted to be a magician, so I could make my homework disappear. I wasn’t much of a student.”
    “I don’t think I believe you, if you went to Harvard,” she said, still laughing at him. “I think it would have been fun to join the circus. Why didn’t you?”
    “Your father offered me a job instead, although that was later. I don’t know, maybe I just didn’t have the gumption it took. But I never had ambitions like yours. Just thinking of all the years of school it would take would kill me. I’m much too lazy to be a doctor.”
    “I don’t believe that,” she said kindly. “But I know I’d love it.” Her eyes shone brightly as she said it.
    “Who knows, maybe someday you’ll be able to use some of what you’ve learned in books, in your volunteer work. That’s a noble pursuit.” He admired her for doing it at least.
    “They don’t let you do much,” she said, looking disappointed.
    “What would you like to do?” he asked with interest.
    “I do very nice needlework, everyone always says so. I’d like to try stitching someone up sometime. I’m sure I could.” He looked shocked when she said it, and then smiled broadly.
    “Remind me not to cut myself in front of you, or you’ll be whipping a needle and an embroidery hoop out of your pocket!”
    “I would enjoy that,” she admitted, smiling impishly at him.
    “Someone is going to have to keep you busy, Miss Worthington, or I get the feeling you’ll be up to mischief.”
    “Medical mischief would suit me very well. Just think, if we weren’t who we are, I could go to medical school and do anything I wanted. Isn’t that annoying?” she asked, looking like a child and a woman all at once, and without thinking he hugged her, just as he would his little sister. She felt like that to him, just as she felt a bond to him almost like a brother. A nice relationship and friendship was developing between them.
    “If you weren’t who you are, you couldn’t afford to go to medical school,” he said practically, and she nodded in agreement.
    “That’s true. But if I were a man I could. Robert could have, if he’d wanted to, and my parents would have let him. Sometimes, it’s very difficult being a woman. There is so much you can’t do and that’s not considered proper. It’s really very boring,” she said, kicking a pebble with the toe of her shoe, and he laughed at her.
    “Don’t tell me you’re one of those women who want to fight for rights and freedom.” She didn’t seem the type to him, and it would have surprised him.
    “No. I’m perfectly happy the way things are. I just wish I could be a doctor.”
    “Well, I wish I could be the King of England, but that’s not going to happen either. Some things are just out of our reach, Annabelle, and we have to accept that. You have a good life as it is.”
    “Yes, I do,” she agreed. “And I love my mother. I wouldn’t do anything to upset her, and that would upset her a lot.”
    “Yes, it would.”
    “She’s been through so much this year, and I just want to make her happy.”
    “You do,” he said comfortably. “I can see it. You’re a wonderful daughter to her, and a lovely person.”
    “No, she’s not,” Hortie said, as she appeared from nowhere and sidled up to them. She had come back to go swimming with Annabelle again. “She dissected a frog once. She read how to do it in a book. It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. She is definitely not a lovely person.” All three of them laughed at what she said.
    “I assume that’s true,”