No Wings to Fly Read Online Free PDF

get your first pay.’
    ‘I won’t forget.’ In addition to her board and lodging, Lily was to receive twelve pounds a year, paid to her in quarterly sums, and it had been agreed that she would send a portion of her wages back home, to help out. The little that was left, she could keep for herself.
    When it was time, Lily took her little portmanteau, and with her father carrying her box on his shoulder, they walked to the crossroads where they caught an omnibus to the station and got on the train. When eventually they arrived in Whitton they took one of the station flys, and after a short journey the vehicle turned at a crossroads and slowed in front of an old house.
    ‘Well, here we are,’ Mr Clair said, and moments later he and Lily were standing outside the carriage and looking at the house which, for the foreseeable future, was to be Lily’s home.
    The house, Hollygrove, was situated on the Corster Road, some little distance from the centre of the small town of Whitton. It had a slate roof, and timber and plaster walls that were partly covered by ivy. It stood apart from the dwellings on either side with the space taken up by a smallpaddock on one side, and a large kitchen garden on the other. In the front garden, shrubbery grew thickly around an area of patchy grass.
    ‘Well, come on, then.’ As the fly began to turn in the road, Mr Clair pushed open the gate, and together they made their way around the side of the house to a green-painted door. There Mr Clair set the box down at his feet and knocked.
    The door was opened by Mrs Haskin, who beamed at them and said expansively, ‘Well, here you are. Do come in.’ She stepped back, and Mr Clair, carrying Lily’s box, stepped into the kitchen. ‘You might as well take your things upstairs at once,’ Mrs Haskin said. ‘Come along.’ Moving ahead of them, she led the way into the main hall and up two flights of stairs to a small attic room at the top of the house. ‘Here we are,’ she said as Lily came up onto the landing. ‘I think you’ll be comfortable here.’
    Inside the little room, Lily put down her portmanteau, and her father set down the box. Mrs Haskin watched from just inside the doorway, and nodded her approval. ‘Good. Now come on downstairs and we’ll have some tea.’ She turned to Mr Clair. ‘I’ve got the kettle on, Edwin, and I’m sure you could do with a cup.’ Mr Clair thanked her, but said he wouldn’t stop as he had left the fly waiting outside. ‘I told Annie I’d get the next train back,’ he said.
    ‘Oh, well, if you can’t stay,’ Mrs Haskin said, stepping out onto the small landing. ‘I’m sure Lily’ll want to see you off, then.’
    The three of them made their way downstairs to the hall, where Mrs Haskin opened the front door, saying, ‘Now you have a good journey back, Edwin, and don’t you worry about your girl. She’ll be fine.’ She turned to Lily, raised her hand and gently pinched the girl’s cheek. ‘We’re going to get along just grand, I know we are.’
    The open front door revealed the fly standing by the frontgates. When Mrs Haskin had made her farewells to Mr Clair, she said she would see Lily in a minute and then turned and headed back towards the kitchen. Lily and her father went out to where the carriage waited at the roadside.
    ‘Well, Lily,’ Mr Clair said, ‘you look after yourself, won’t you?’
    ‘I will, Father.’
    ‘And be a good girl and do as you’re told, all right?’
    ‘Yes, Father.’
    ‘And mind you’re a credit to me – you will be, won’t you?’
    ‘I will.’
    ‘Good. Don’t you be doing or saying anything that’ll reflect badly. But you wouldn’t do that anyway, would you – smart girl like you?’
    ‘I’ll do my best, Father, really I will.’
    ‘Ah, I’m sure you will, and I’m sure your best’ll be good enough – if you want it to be. You’ve got a clever head on your shoulders, you’ve got a willing spirit, and a capable pair of hands. I