Anne Douglas Read Online Free PDF Page B

Anderson.’
    ‘You’re welcome, Shona.
    ‘She’s no’ so bad, eh?’ asked Cassie, on the way up to Stirling. ‘Always been very helpful to me.’
    ‘How long have you been here?’ asked Shona.
    ‘Since I was nine. My folks died when I was little and my auntie took care of me, but then she died too.’ Cassie’s pretty face was suddenly bleak. ‘So, there was no one. I had to come here.’
    ‘Same with me.’ Shona explained her own circumstances. ‘But you said it was nice here, eh? You told me I’d be all right.’
    ‘Aye, that’s right. I was so nervous at first, I thought I’d never remember all the rules and things, but it’s funny, you soon get used to everything.’
    Shona hesitated a moment. ‘Is it true they expect all the girls from here to go into service?’
    ‘Well, I don’t know about expecting it, but most of ’em do.’
    ‘How d’you like the idea of that?’
    Cassie shrugged. ‘Means you get a place to stay. Where else would you find that?’
    ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out. Going into service is no’ for me.’
    ‘You’ve plenty of time to think about it,’ Cassie murmured with a smile. ‘We’re only eleven, remember?’
    They had reached their beds in the quiet dormitory, where two or three other girls were sitting chatting. The bell would go at eight o’clock for under twelves, Cassie explained; those older got an extra half hour.
    ‘So, Julia won’t be here yet?’ asked Shona.
    ‘Oh, don’t be worrying about Julia. We can always call Miss Anderson if she tries to cause trouble.’
    ‘It’s just that I’ve met her sort before, at school.’
    ‘There’s always one like her,’ Cassie agreed. ‘But, listen, while you were with Miss Anderson, an ambulance came to take a lassie to hospital. Queenie Turner, she’s called. Used to be here in Stirling, but she’s got a fever and they moved her out to be on her own.’
    ‘Poor girl,’ Shona murmured, but said nothing of having heard about the sick orphan already. Said nothing at all, in fact, of having met the orphanage doctor and his son. She unfolded her nightdress, which was of flannel and a standard pattern issued to all the girls, and rubbed her tired eyes.
    ‘Think I’ll get to my bed now, Cassie.’
    ‘Aye, let’s run and bag the washbasins before the bell goes, else we’ll end up in a queue.’ Cassie grinned. ‘That’s the trouble with living here – we’re always in queues.’
    Tired though she was, Shona couldn’t sleep. There’d been too much happening in that long, long day, and still too much moving round her brain. Being May and in the north, the daylight had not yet completely faded from the dormitory, and she was able to see the photographs of her parents by her bed, taking some comfort in her memories. How quickly, though, she marvelled again, her life had changed! Who would have believed, only weeks ago, that she would be here now in an orphanage bed, wearing an orphanage night gown, surrounded by sleeping girls but feeling so alone?
    No, she shouldn’t feel that. Cassie, in the next bed, was already a friend, and no one had been difficult except Julia who, thank heavens, had gone straight to her bed when she came up to the dormitory. No doubt because Miss Anderson had been patrolling around, but at least for that night there’d been no more snappy remarks to cause upset.
    And then, if Shona was counting friends, she thought she might number Mark Lindsay, even if she might never see him again, for he had made her feel better, talking to her and showing her the Handkerchief Tree, that lovely tree from China that could settle in strange places. Maybe it was like Shona herself? She hadn’t settled yet, but she was beginning to realize she must. She had no choice.
    Though her eyelids were growing heavier she was still wide awake, thinking of so many things, one being that the next day she would find out how she could post a letter to Mrs Hope and Kitty, for they would be worrying