The Royal Lacemaker Read Online Free PDF Page B

bed.’
    Lily looked over at her mother and,
     seeing she was still in a trancelike state, her heart sank. Will she ever recover
     from Father’s death? she wondered. And how will she cope with having to leave
     the home she’s lived in since she was married?
    ‘Come along, Sarah,’ Aunt
     Elizabeth said, gently leading her sister from the room.
    Later, with her mother and Beth asleep,
     Lily crouched on the floor beside the fire while her aunt and Robert settled
     themselves in the chairs.
    ‘So I guess
     we’d better talk about where we’re going to live,’ she said,
     wondering how her aunt could seem so calm about it.
    ‘The squire said he was
     disappointed you weren’t here when he called as he was worried about your
     wellbeing.’
    Lily snorted and her aunt frowned.
     ‘I told him you were working for Mrs Bodney. He’s a nice, caring man to
     take such an interest in you, Lily.’
    ‘So interested, he still intends
     making us homeless,’ she retorted.
    ‘Well, he did have a
     solution.’ Rob leaned forward in his seat. ‘He said to tell you
     there’s a job for you up at the manor house.’
    ‘Go into service for him?
     Never,’ she spat.
    ‘But, Lily, I don’t
     understand. Squire Clinsden owns the whole of the Coombe and Dean Valleys and
     he’s offering you a respectable position,’ said her aunt, looking
     bewildered.
    ‘Respectable?’ Lily
     retorted, her voice rising.
    ‘Yes, respectable, Lily.
     You’d get a roof over your head up in that fine house, as well as a living
     wage. Why, he even offered to help you move. And he said there’s a
     gamekeeper’s hut in the grounds that could house your mother, Robert and Beth.
     Now, it seems to me that would solve all of your problems.’
    ‘But it wouldn’t,’
     Lily said, shaking her head.
    ‘Why wouldn’t it?’
     Aunt Elizabeth asked, looking at her sharply.
    Lily felt her insides wrench. If only
     she could tell her aunt the truth.
    ‘I like working for Mrs
     Bodney,’ she muttered, lookingat Robert for support.
     However, the desperate appeal in his eyes made her heart sink. Obviously, he wanted
     her to take the job, but there was no way she could or would work for the
     squire.
    ‘I can’t pretend to
     understand you, Lily. You’ve been handed the answer to your problems so why
     won’t you take it?’
    Not trusting herself to answer, Lily
     looked at the ground.
    ‘Well, perhaps you’d prefer
     to discuss it by yourselves. I’ll take myself back down to
     Grace’s,’ said their aunt, getting to her feet. ‘Grace and I have
     had such a good time reminiscing, she offered me a bed for as long as I want. While
     she’s busy with young Harriet and her lace making during the day, she gets
     lonely in the evenings now her husband’s gone. As her cottage is only a couple
     of minutes away it’s the obvious solution. I can continue to come up here
     first thing and be away when you get home. Now, I’ll bid you good night, but
     think hard, Lily. Make the right decision, you get a job and the family get
     somewhere to live.’
    Lily watched her aunt go and then turned
     to Rob.
    ‘I have my reasons for not wanting
     to work for the squire, you do realize that, don’t you?’ she asked.
    He shook his head. ‘All I know is
     that we’ve been served our eviction notice and the squire’s offered us a
     roof over our heads. The solution seems simple to me. But, of course, if this lace
     making job is more important to you than your family, then there’s nothing
     more to be said,’ he growled, getting up and hobbling from the room.
    All night Lily tossed
     and turned, unwelcome dreams invading her sleep as lusting hazel eyes burned through
     her clothes and pudgy fingers slithered like slugs over the contours of her body.
I want you and I shall have you
, his voice echoed over and over,
     taunting her; haunting her.

CHAPTER 5
    When Lily woke, she was trembling and
     drenched in perspiration. Clambering wearily out