Elizabeth Mansfield Read Online Free PDF

she wheeled about to face her sister-in-law on whom, she concluded, a scolding would have more effect. “Really, Camilla, how can you permit the child to read
novels
? If I know Miss Burney’s interests, the book deals with nothing but flirtations and matchmaking and the like. I can’t approve of so frivolous a piece of reading matter even for an adult, but to permit a mere
child
to—!”
    Camilla clenched her fists in her lap and tried to keep Ethelyn’s booming voice from overwhelming her courage. “I believe it best,” she said quietly, “to let Pippa choose her own reading matter, since she is so advanced.”
    “Choose her own? Are you
mad?
A child, no matter how gifted, needs direction. She should be reading books which are
edifying
rather than entertaining—like Mr. Watt’s
Divine and Moral Songs for Children.
Or, if she must read stories, let her peruse the one I gave her last week.”
    “If you mean the tale by Mrs. Sherwood called
The Fairchild Family
, she’s already read it.” Camilla’s lips turned up in a tiny, almost unnoticeable smile. “She said it was excessively silly.”
    “Silly? It was recommended by Harriet More herself!” Ethelyn’s breast heaved in outrage that anyone could question the judgment of the famous evangelical.
    “Nevertheless,” Camilla said, her chin coming up bravely, “Pippa said it’s fit only to frighten little children, making them believe that at each and every second of their lives they are walking the tightrope between eternal bliss and eternal damnation. She said she’s sorry for the little ones in the charity schools who have to read it, but that
she’s
too old to be frightened by it.”
    “Shocking! The child’s too clever for her own good!” Ethelyn frowned down at her sister-in-law darkly. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that you took her to task for saying such sinful things.”
    “There was nothing sinful—!”
    “You are as aware as I am that we
do
walk a tightrope, every moment of our lives, between bliss and damnation, and the sooner a child knows it the better. You, of all people, should show some concern for Philippa’s immortal soul!”
    A flash of anger seared through Camilla’s chest. “There’s not the least reason for me to have concern for her soul!” she retorted, a touch of waspishness in her voice. As if Pippa had anything in her soul but the purest, sweetest innocence!
    But there was nothing to be gained by pursuing this subject with Ethelyn. Camilla had never been able to argue against either of the Wyckfields—Ethelyn or Desmond—with any degree of success. Even when she was in the right, they could put her on the defensive and make her feel inadequate. Often in the past, she would find herself at the end of a dispute defeated, choked with frustration and shamefully giving way to a flood of tears. Even now that Desmond was dead, and she was legally mistress of this house, she found herself intimidated by her sister-in-law’s sheer forcefulness. She realized that she’d have to face up to Ethelyn one of these days, if she was ever to have any sort of life for herself. But it was silly to have an altercation now on so ludicrous a subject as the danger to her daughter’s soul from a bit of innocuous reading. “Did you say earlier, Ethelyn, that you have something to discuss with me?” she asked, turning the subject.
    “Yes, I did.” Ethelyn seated herself imperiously on the chair facing the sofa and folded her hands in her lap primly. “It’s the matter of
your
butler.”
    “Hicks? Again? What’s he done?”
    “The man actually uttered a foul blasphemy … and in my presence!”
    “Oh, Ethelyn, he
couldn’t
have,” Camilla said, leaning forward worriedly. “I’ve known him all my life, and I’ve
never
heard him—”
    “But
I
heard him!” Ethelyn retorted coldly. “I gave him an order, and I heard him mutter something under his breath.”
    Camilla felt her stomach tighten. The matter of Hicks had