A Memory of Violets Read Online Free PDF

above.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  “Shouldn’t we be making our way back, Tilly? The fog is getting worse.”
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  “Shhh. Listen, Esther! A train! Let’s try and outrun it.”
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  “But, Mother said . . .”
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  “Come on. I dare you.”

Chapter 3
London
    March 25, 1912
    A s the motor cabdriver navigated his way through the alarming assortment of traffic converged at the junction of King’s Cross and Pentonville Roads, Tilly gazed in stunned silence through the small window. It was the lack of color that struck her the most; the drab, muted tones of gray upon gray, as if all the other shades had been painted over or forgotten about. The bright yellow daffodils and the ever-shifting shades of blue that graced the lakes of Westmorland had never felt farther away. As she worried at the buttons on her high-collared blouse, she wondered how she would ever feel at ease in this vast, colorless place, wondered when she would next take a breath of clear, fresh air.
    Frowning at the sight of a wretched young boy sweeping theroad, she recalled Mrs. Ingram’s parting words: “I think you and London are going to get along quite well, Miss Harper. She may look like a rotten old crone at first, but she scrubs up as fine as any lady when you really get to know her! Just give her time.” Tilly hoped Mrs. Ingram would prove to be correct.
    A S THE TRAIN had made its final approach to Euston Station, Tilly and her fellow passengers had stared out of the windows, struck by the unfamiliar sights that heralded their arrival in London: the soaring factory chimneys spewing out thick black smoke like immense just-extinguished candles; the grimy tenement housing that hugged the railway line; the cloying smell of soot and sulfur that drifted through the compartment window, which Tilly had secured shut with the leather strap. The clear blue skies that had accompanied Tilly for most of her journey had soon disappeared beneath the gloomy fog of industry, wispy clouds replaced by the billowing smoke that gushed from the train as it crept slowly to a stop beside the platform.
    As the guard opened the compartment door, Mrs. Ingram wished Tilly a fond farewell. “It was very nice to meet you, Miss Harper, and fascinating to hear about your place of work. I sincerely wish you—and the girls—the very best of luck.”
    As she’d stepped onto the platform, Tilly saw the lace handkerchief fall from Mrs. Ingram’s hand. “Oh! Mrs. Ingram! Your handkerchief!” she’d said, picking it up and handing it to her.
    â€œGoodness! Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m quite attached to that handkerchief. I should have been most sad to lose it. A reminder to us both, perhaps, to take better care of the things we treasure the most.”
    Collecting her own trunk from the luggage car, Tilly had watched, then, as Mrs. Ingram embraced an elegantly dressedyounger woman on the platform. “My dear Violette,” she’d heard Mrs. Ingram say. “It’s so good to see you! It just isn’t natural for a mother to go so long without seeing her daughter.”
    Tilly had smiled as Mrs. Ingram was engulfed by three children. Her grandchildren, Tilly presumed. One, she’d noticed, walked with the aid of a crutch.
    â€œW OULD YOU HAVE THE TIME ?” she asked, leaning forward in her seat so that the driver might hear her above the din of car horns and the rumbling wheels of wagons and handcarts and the lilting cries of hawkers.
    â€œFour bells and all’s well,” the driver shouted in reply. “I’ll have you there in no time, Miss.”
    Tilly thanked him