So Long At the Fair Read Online Free PDF Page B

usual, Beatie had brought little presents with her, and now she handed her mother three well-read paper-covered novels and – surreptitiously, so that no one should see – a shilling that she had saved from her wages. To her father she gave some copies of the Penny Illustrated Paper , which was taken regularly at Hillside House and which she had saved from being thrown away. Among other items, the papers carried several illustrations of events in the American Civil War, in which conflict Frank Morris was much interested.
    Beatie, turned seventeen that past March, was small and slim like her mother. She had a flawless complexion the colour of cream and pink roses, and with her rich chestnut hair and wide, dark-lashed blue eyes she was, to Abbie’s mind, one of the most strikingly beautiful young women she had ever seen. Her dress, recently given to her by her employer’s wife, had the colour and sheen of a freshly picked damson. It was no wonder, Abbie thought, that young Mr Greening was so attentive to her and followed her so intently with his eyes.
    Thomas Greening, eighteen years old, was the son of a Lullington inn owner, and he and Beatie had met that past spring when Beatie had been sent to the little shop at the rear of the inn to buy sweets for the Callardine children. It was Tom who came to serve her. Beatie had previously glimpsed him in church at Sunday morning service – when he had also noticed her. He had admired her then, she later learned and, having met her at the inn, had determined to renew the acquaintance at the earliest opportunity. This he did by managing to be in the right place when Beatie left Hillside House to take her charges for a spin in the perambulator. In just a few weeks he was taking Sunday afternoon walks with her, while in the meantime they had also begun to exchange letters.
    Beatie’s tale, however, was not one of unalloyed joy. Tom’s parents, having had dreams of their son making a marriage with a bride who had more assets than just a pretty face, frowned on his enthusiasm for the impoverished nursemaid and did what they could to discourage the assocation. He, however, was not so easily discouraged it seemed, and the relationship had continued and blossomed.
    Abbie, on learning from Beatie of Tom’s parents’ antipathy, was indignant. Secretly she felt that far from it being the case that Beatie was not good enough for Tom Greening, he was perhaps not good enough for her .
    Beatie, however, was completely enamoured of him, that much was clear. On the pretext of a matter concerning some clothing, she got Abbie to go upstairs with her and, as soon as the bedroom door was closed behind them, turned and whispered, all eagerness and anxiousness, ‘Well, Abbie – what do you think? Isn’t he fine? Isn’t he good-looking?’
    Abbie wrapped her arms round her sister’s waist and hugged her to her. ‘Oh, Beatie, yes. Yes, he certainly is.’
    But even as Abbie spoke there were reservations in her mind. Notwithstanding that Tom Greening was a handsome young man with a fine figure, and with good prospects into the bargain, he appeared, for Abbie’s tastes, a little too quiet and somewhat lacking in personality. With his slow smile and rather self-conscious manner, he seemed to her a little withdrawn and short on humour. Certainly he had about him nothing of Eddie’s exuberance. Still, she reminded herself, she didn’t really know him, and as Beatie herself was somewhat shy and retiring, they were probably well suited to one another. And anyway, what did it matter what she, Abbie, thought of him? It was no crime to be dull. It was only really important what Beatie felt, and Beatie was clearly very taken – just as Tom Greening appeared to be completely taken with her.
    Later, as they all sat chatting downstairs, Lizzie and Iris burst in noisily, breathless from having run all the way home, and Abbie watched as her elder sister kissed and hugged them and gave them the little gifts