Liberty for Paul Read Online Free PDF

walked across the room to get his other clothes, she’d tiptoed behind his screen and grabbed them up in a bundle and waited.
    Just as she’d predicted, when he didn’t find any clean clothes, he came back to get his dirty ones. The look on his face when he’d seen her holding them over the fire was worth any unpleasant consequence she might be forced to face if this all went bad—all except the one she was now facing, that is.
    She hadn’t expected her parents to appear upon the scene so early. Her plan could have still been salvaged if they hadn’t knocked over the screen while running around the room. But since they had, she was in the only situation that wasn’t worth seeing the shocked look on Mr. Grimes’ face when he saw her holding his clothes over the fire.
    “John,” Mr. Grimes said softly, “there is an explanation for this.”
    “Good,” Papa said roughly. “I’m rather interested in hearing it.”
    “Do you think we could talk about this in your study?” Mr. Grimes asked hopefully.
    “No.”
    Mr. Grimes nodded slowly. Liberty felt all the blood drain from her face. He was about to tell Papa what she’d done. Then not only would her plan be ruined, but who knew what sort of punishment Papa would level on her for this. The last time she’d done something he considered “inappropriate” to Mr. Grimes, Papa had threatened to board her off to America if she so much as looked at him wrong in the future. She shivered. He wouldn’t send her home all alone in the dead of winter, or would he?
    “As it happens, there was a mix up with my clothing,” Paul said evasively, his face turning even redder, if such a thing were possible.
    “Do not worry about your clothing, sir,” said the butler helpfully. “I saw Miss Liberty heap them outside the door earlier. Not to worry, I took them all down to Mary. She will have them all pressed and returned within the hour.”
    Liberty repressed a groan. Their butler was the most unprofessional butler in all of England. If there had been any means to escape this scrape, they were definitely gone now thanks to Turner.
    “Thank you. I look forward to having them back more than you know,” Mr. Grimes said dryly.
    Ignoring Mr. Grimes, Papa cast an imploring glance at Liberty. “Explain yourself,” he thundered.
    Liberty thought she was going to swoon. But fate had never been that kind to her. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and flickered a glance at Mr. Grimes; he looked just as interested in her answer as Papa. “I…I…I don’t know,” she stammered weakly.
    “Yes, you do,” Papa barked, scaring everyone in the room.
    Liberty felt her body begin to shake on its own accord as her father’s gaze pierced her. Her eyes started to fill with tears, and she found that her lips were trembling, and she was powerless to stop them.
    The tension in the room was so thick, she thought she might choke to death on it, but of course that wouldn’t happen, either. She wasn’t that lucky.
    A delicate cough broke the silence and Liberty’s eyes shifted to where Mama was standing next to Papa in the doorway. She’d forgotten Mama was there and sent her a pleading glance. But Mama just shook her head as if to say: “Sorry, my dear, I can’t save you this time.”
    “Do you have something to say?” Papa asked in clipped tones.
    Liberty thought he was talking to her, but Mama must have thought he was talking to her. “Actually, I do,” Mama said gently, turning slightly pink. “Liberty, would you kindly give Paul back his clothing, please.”
    Liberty flushed. At least now the blood was flowing back into her head, she thought wryly. With a tight grip on the bundle of clothes, she weakly extended her hands toward him. But Mr. Grimes didn’t take them from her.
    “Liberty, spare the man anymore embarrassment and throw them on the bed,” Papa said irritably.
    Knowing Papa like she did, she knew he’d meant “throw” in a general sense, not a literal