Suffragette Girl Read Online Free PDF

He’d been a handsome little
chap and at fourteen showed all the promise of breaking girls’ hearts throughout the county. Florrie just prayed that when his turn came he would fall in love with someone whom Father would
think ‘suitable’. She believed that she could get away with disappointing him, but if James were to go against Edgar’s wishes, then . . . Well, it didn’t bear thinking
about.
    ‘You mean you love me as a brother and not as a husband,’ Gervase said flatly.
    ‘That’s it exactly.’
    ‘I won’t stop trying, Florrie. Every New Year’s Eve, I shall propose again.’
    ‘Please don’t,’ Florrie pulled a face. ‘I shall dread every year end if you say that.’
    Gervase laughed and some of the hurt left his eyes for a moment. ‘Well, I’m sorry, but you’re just going to have to put up with it. Maybe you’ll get so fed up of saying
“no”, one year you’ll say “yes”.’ He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers one by one and, quite serious now, added, ‘Just remember, Florrie,
that if ever you change your mind, I’ll be waiting.’
    ‘Oh no, you’ll meet a lovely girl, get married and have a huge family. And I’ll be the best adopted auntie in the whole world.’
    He regarded her steadily. ‘That’s not going to happen, Florrie. You’re the only girl I’ll ever love.’
    His words and his tone were so sincere, so heartfelt, that for once Florrie could not make light of them. ‘I’m sorry, truly I am,’ she whispered, tears spilling down her
cheeks.
    With tender fingers Gervase wiped them away. ‘Please don’t cry, Florrie.’ He smiled. ‘You always tell me you never cry.’
    ‘I don’t,’ she said fiercely. ‘At least – not often.’
    ‘So – let’s just go on being the good friends we are, eh? But I meant what I said.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘I suppose I forget how young you are. Only eighteen. You need a little fun before you settle down, don’t you? You haven’t even “come out” yet, but you see
I’m so afraid if you go to London for the Season, one of those very eligible young men will snap you up. I wanted us to be engaged so that couldn’t happen. But I know it’s your
mother’s dearest wish that you should be presented at court. Just as she was.’
    Now Florrie laughed aloud, her tears brushed away. ‘Well, it’s not going to happen – I promise you. If I go to London it will be for quite a different reason than doing the
round of balls and parties to meet eligible bachelors.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    She tapped him playfully on the nose. ‘Now
that
is my secret.’
    ‘Oh, you girls and your secrets. Well, I must be off. Still a lot to get ready for tonight. You’re all coming, aren’t you?’
    It had long been the tradition that the two families spent New Year’s Eve together, alternating between the two homes. One year the Maltbys would play host at Candlethorpe Hall, the next
year it would be the turn of the Richards at Bixley Manor. It had been their greatgrandfathers who’d begun it. The two men had been brought together by business, their estates on the edge of
the Lincolnshire Wolds stretching to join each other. The natural progression had been that their families became friends. They dined together often, held shooting parties, picnics, balls and
bonfire nights. Together they’d seen the dawn of a new century, the passing of the old queen and her strict morality into an age of change. Over the years, the New Year’s Eve
celebrations had come to include not only the household staff of both grand country houses, but also all the estate workers and their families. Most of the inhabitants of the local villages worked
on one estate or the other, but even those who didn’t joined the merry parties that set off in farm carts and traps – the youths and young girls on bicycles – from Candlethorpe to
Bixley or vice versa. Laughter filled the frosty air as they travelled the six miles. Old and young