A Very Unusual Pursuit Read Online Free PDF Page B

lady in a white lace cap. This lady was very small and thin, with grey hair arranged in ringlets over her ears. She wore a black gown and fingerless gloves. Her eyes were large and blue, her teeth stained and broken. She carried a walking stick.
    ‘Why, and who is this little nightingale?’ she demanded. ‘Edith, you never mentioned that we were expecting visitors.’
    ‘I’m sorry, did we disturb you? I thought you’d gone to Mr Fotherington’s house for tea. Isn’t that what you usually do on a Friday?’ Without waiting for a reply, Miss Eames went on to explain, ‘This is Mr Alfred Bunce and his apprentice.’
    ‘Come about the broken chairs?’ her aunt queried.
    ‘For my research.’ Miss Eames cleared her throat and said, ‘Mr Bunce has been describing his life as a bogler.’
    ‘Really? How interesting.’ The old lady offered up a vague smile as she eyed Alfred’s dusty boots. Then she addressed his apprentice. ‘You have such a pretty voice, dear. What were you singing?’
    ‘“Hanging Johnny”,’ Birdie supplied.
    ‘Ah.’
    ‘This is my aunt, Mrs Heppinstall,’ Miss Eames informed Alfred, who had risen from his seat. ‘She likes to hear about my studies.’
    ‘But I much prefer to hear music,’ Mrs Heppinstall admitted, her pale eyes still fixed on Birdie. ‘What is your name, child?’
    ‘Birdie McAdam.’
    ‘Indeed? Well, with a pretty voice like yours, Birdie, you should be singing nicer songs. Do you know any nice songs?’
    Birdie thought for a moment. She didn’t understand what the old lady meant by ‘nice’. ‘I know “Down by the Greenwood Side”,’ she volunteered. ‘ There was a duke’s daughter dwelt at York – all alone and alone-a-a. She fell in love with her father’s clerk, down by the greenwood side .’
    The old lady nodded. ‘Yes, that is pretty.’
    ‘ She took a knife both sharp and short – all alone and alone-a-a – and stabb’d her babes unto the heart, down by the greenwood side.’
    ‘Oh, my goodness.’ Mrs Heppinstall winced. ‘No, I don’t think we need hear any more of that .’
    ‘Would you like some tea, Aunt Louisa?’ Miss Eames suddenly broke in, almost as if she were trying to change the subject. ‘I could ask Mary to make a fresh pot.’
    ‘No, thank you, Edith. I don’t wish to disturb you, dear.’
    ‘You’re not disturbing us at all. Mr Bunce was just leaving. Is that not so, Mr Bunce?’
    ‘Aye.’ Alfred seemed anxious to go. Clutching his sack in one hand and his hat in the other, he began to sidle towards the door. ‘Goodbye, ma’am. Thank’ee, miss.’
    ‘Let me show you out, Mr Bunce,’ Miss Eames said firmly. She ushered him over the threshold as Birdie lagged behind, throwing a wistful look at the remnants of the plum cake.
    ‘I’ll cut you a piece to take home,’ the old lady suggested. ‘So you can share it with your family.’
    ‘Oh, I ain’t got no family,’ Birdie was forced to admit. ‘But there’s plenty I know as would be happy to share a bite with me.’
    ‘You’re an orphan, dear?’ When Birdie nodded, Mrs Heppinstall remarked, ‘How sad.’
    Birdie shrugged, her gaze still on the plum cake. ‘You don’t miss what you never knowed,’ she advised Mrs Heppinstall, who immediately picked up the entire cake – or what was left of it – and thrust it into Birdie’s hands.
    ‘Take it all,’ the old lady insisted.
    Birdie blinked. She was about to mumble her thanks when a horrible thought struck her. ‘I never said I were orphaned just to get more cake!’ she protested. ‘I ain’t no cadger, ma’am!’
    ‘No, of course not. That is to say, while I’ve no idea what a cadger might be, if it is in any way wicked or dishonest, I’m quite convinced that you’re nothing of the sort.’
    ‘Yes, but—’
    her head, so that her ringlets bounced like coils of wire.
    ‘Take it, dear.’ Mrs Heppinstall smiled and bobbed Then she leaned towards Birdie and with a twinkle in her eye