Always Emily Read Online Free PDF Page A

Art Academy. Aunt B. thinks he discovered he wasn’t good enough to be an artist. I think perhaps he fell in love with a lady of ill repute and spent all his money tryingto win her heart only to be outbid by a rich lord. That would explain why he refuses to talk about it, don’t you agree? Instead he mopes and grumbles about the house. He would be very depressing indeed if he didn’t keep to his room so much
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    Since you and Charlotte are gone until Christmas, I’ve decided to take up the invitation of Aunt B.’s bosom friend, Mrs. Leicester, in Scarborough. She is recuperating from a broken ankle and needs a young, lively presence to cheer her up (and no doubt fetch and carry and otherwise satisfy her every whim). Even if she is a perfect termagant, I shall still have some free time and I have always longed to see the sea. In all, I think it is an admirable way to spend the autumn. Of course Aunt B. is invited as well, but it would take a bog burst to shift her from the parsonage! So I will write again with my new address. Give my best to Charlotte, but tell her it is given only under duress!
    Love, Anne
    Postscript: Perhaps I underestimated how exciting it can be in Haworth. This afternoon a rock was thrown through our window! Father was angry but relieved no one was hurt. He is furious Grasper did not chase the miscreant. He said, “If this brute of Emily’s can’t even chase a vandal, what good is he?” But don’t worry about Grasper; later I saw Father slip him a whole slice of Tabby’s famous chocolate cake
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    Charlotte smiled, picturing the scene. She refolded the letter and placed it back in the book. It was good to hear newsfrom home, but why had no one written to her? She understood Anne was still out of sorts, but Father? Branwell? Aunt B.?
    Suddenly Emily was sitting upright on the bed. “I can’t breathe,” she gasped. Charlotte rushed back to her sister in time to see her tossing the thick blanket to the floor.
    Charlotte grabbed Emily’s shoulders to press her back down to the mattress. The sharpness of the bones made her cringe. Charlotte pulled at her sister’s chemise to reveal her bare shoulders and saw Emily’s emaciated body. Emily had always been thin, but never like this. A wave of guilt swept Charlotte nearly off her feet. She had neglected her sister shamefully.
    â€œThe window!” Emily said.
    Emily lived for fresh air, Charlotte knew, so she threw up the sash of the wide window. The temperature had dropped. Shivering, she glanced out at the line of enormous oak trees, whose wide leaves danced and bowed to the crescent moon.
    Emily stared unseeingly toward the wide windows. “Maria! Elizabeth! You’ve finally come!”
    Charlotte’s veins ran ice. “Hush, dear. There’s no one there.”
    â€œHave you come for me?” Emily cried to the air, extending her arms.
    â€œShhh, my dearest Emily,” Charlotte begged. “Stay here with me. I know what’s best for you.”
    â€œDon’t you see them? They have been watching over me all this time.”
    â€œBe calm, Emily,” Charlotte murmured as she took a wet cloth, wrung out the extra moisture, and laid it on Emily’sfevered brow. “You’re imagining our sisters are there. They aren’t real.”
    â€œSweet Maria and kind Elizabeth. They can’t come in. You must open the window.”
    Charlotte’s fear tasted like bile in her mouth. Struggling to keep her voice calm, she tried to reason her sister out of her delusion. “The windows
are
open,” she said. “If they chose, they could enter. Perhaps they aren’t yet ready to visit.”
    Emily collapsed back to the bed, tears running down her cheeks. “Are they waiting for me to die?”
    â€œHush, do not speak of death. Rest.” She rubbed Emily’s cold hand, noticing the raised goose bumps on her sister’s flesh. “Do