Amanda Scott Read Online Free PDF Page A

morning,” she called.
    Dolly looked up, hesitated for a moment, then got politely to her feet. She wore a dark blue cloak over her white muslin dress, and she clutched it tighter when the breeze dancing down off the moor caught at its folds. “Good morning, Aunt Emily.”
    “Is this your private place?” Emily inquired, drawing nearer along the white-pebbled pathway and adding in a more gentle tone when she stood beside Dolly and chanced to note the girl’s reddened eyes, “I have my own place at Wingrave, you know—a delicious hollow near the river Avon. It is nestled amongst the rocks, one of which is large enough to form a natural armchair even now that I am grown. The river creatures swim in to talk to me when I sit there—dabchicks and swans and … oh, all manner of things. I found the place when I was very small, and at first my father punished me whenever he discovered I had been there, for he was afraid that I would fall into the river, you know. But I liked my private hollow, and it drew me despite Papa’s profoundest displeasure, so he gave in at last and made my brothers teach me to swim instead.”
    She had been talking to give Dolly time to compose herself, for it had become immediately apparent to her that the girl had been weeping. Now Dolly looked at her with some interest, even amusement in her damp china-blue eyes. “Did you really defy your papa until he let you have your way, Aunt Emily? Mama has always said Grandpapa frightened her witless whenever he was angry.”
    Emily sat down on the top step of the little temple, patting the place beside her. “What a splendid view of the house and the lake you have from here.” She looked at Dolly and smiled as the girl sat down beside her. “I daresay it was different for your mama than for me, you know, for she was the eldest and thus particularly precious to them, so they were no doubt stricter with her. She was two years old before Thomas was born. But before I came along, there were Eliza, John, Bella, Ned, and Nellie. With so many others to look after me, and our dear Mattie as well—I know your mama must have told you of our governess, Miss Matthews—well, no one paid me much heed, you see, everyone always thinking someone else must be watching me.”
    “But how lonely you must have been!” Dolly exclaimed.
    Revising her first impression of her beautiful niece, Emily said gently, “But I wasn’t lonely at all. There was always someone if I wanted someone. In that houseful of people, the hard thing to find was solitude, and I am strangely addicted to occasional periods of quiet.”
    “I see,” Dolly said, withdrawing a little. “Like Melanie. She avoids everyone of late.”
    “And like you, I daresay,” Emily said with a chuckle. “Since you are too kind to tell me to my face that I am intruding, I will take tactful leave of you now and let you enjoy yours.” She moved to stand up.
    “Oh, no,” Dolly said quickly. “This place has no special meaning to me. Indeed, I was sitting here thinking how very lonely it is here at Staithes.”
    “But surely with your mama and Miss Lavinia, and now Oliver at home, not to mention Miss Brittan—”
    “Oh, I do not count Miss Brittan. She has never been my governess, only Melanie’s, for she came to us out of Kent after Miss Jennings left in November, just as I was about to emerge from the schoolroom. Papa had even agreed to permit me to go to Woburn for Christmas, though Mama had said it would not be quite the thing since I had not been presented. But then I came down with a putrid sore throat, so those plans all came to naught, and Mama and Papa went to Broadlands instead. But then, to make it up, Papa took us to Robin Hood’s Bay, and then—” Dolly broke off and stared grimly at the lake.
    “I’m sorry,” Emily said quietly, “but you must not dwell upon your sorrow, my dear. You ought instead to look about you for other things to occupy your thoughts.”
    Dolly turned toward her