The Ugly Sister Read Online Free PDF

face.
    â€˜See how speedy you can drive us on the rocks.’
    I was not dressed for boating, and my striped skirt and yellow blouse billowed as much as the canvas as I shortened sail, came briefly up into the wind and then heeled over, making again for the mouth of the creek.
    â€˜Heigh-ho,’ he shouted. ‘Could tell you was a seaman’s daughter.’
    â€˜I’m not!’
    â€˜Then what are you?’ When I didn’t reply: ‘Every Spry is a bit of a sea-dog, ain’t he? Admirals, captains, commodores. Maybe there’s a cabinboy among ’em, but if so he’s the skeleton in the scuppers. Come a point south, would you, my dear, I see breakers ahead.’
    So the sea danced and we dipped and eddied with it, the sun lifted its veil and beat hot upon us; the green headland with its black feet lurched past and in a few moments we were back in the calmer waters of the creek.
    â€˜Is it true that your mother is an actress?’
    He asked more about my family and gradually my tongue freed itself. Even so, as the sun waxed and waned between the clouds, I was both hotter and colder than the day because of the friendly, hungry way he looked at me.
    â€˜To tell the truth, Miss Emma, I’ve met Thomasine twice and we rather experienced a taking for each other. Nothing serious, mind, but I’d like to see her again. Am I to assume from the rebuff I received today that she is bespoke?’
    â€˜Bespoke? Not if by bespoke you mean affianced.’
    â€˜That I do mean. So …’ He watched me quizzically as, unhelped by him, I lowered the sail. ‘In what way am I to be considered ineligible – at least as a friend?’
    â€˜That I cannot tell you.’
    â€˜Is Tamsin to be an actress? Does your mother want you both to follow her on the stage?’
    â€˜I don’t know … Well, I could not. Not unless it was to join a circus.’
    He threw a rope to loop over one of the bollards and drew the cutter into the side of the quay. He jumped ashore and offered me a hand – which I forbore to take.
    â€˜Must go before the tide turns,’ he said. ‘This cutter comes from Feock, and I am not sure if the owner knows I’ve borrowed it.’
    â€˜D’you mean – you just took it?’
    He laughed at my expression. ‘Take – borrow – it is not stealing.’ His eyes narrowed in the sun, gleaming. ‘Fearsome is as fearsome does, eh? You think I might want to borrow you or your sister? Not a disagreeable thought. But it would be for more than one tide. Tell me …’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Was it an accident?’
    I glared daggers at him. ‘ Of a sort. On the part of the midwife.’
    â€˜Has a doctor seen it?’
    â€˜Many.’ Which wasn’t true.
    â€˜Should think something could be done. Surgeons are clever johnnies with their scissors these days.’
    â€˜Thank you. Good day, Mr Fox, and thank you for the sail.’
    â€˜Would you,’ he said, ‘ as a token of your deep gratitude, give a message from me to your sister Tamsin?’
    â€˜I think my mother would object.’
    â€˜Tell Tamsin … Tell her next Thursday at three in front of the new Market House.’
    I did not speak.
    â€˜Emmie,’ he said, touching my hand.
    â€˜Don’t call me that!’
    â€˜Emma, then. Nice Emma? Kind Emma? Pretty Emma?’
    â€˜You know those are outrageous lies!’
    He said obscurely: ‘ Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in gay fine colours that are but skin deep.’
    He left then with a wicked grin. I watched him sail across the estuary. He turned once to wave, but I did not wave back.
VI
    T HE FOLLOWING day Uncle Davey arrived, bringing with him Anna Maria, who had last year been married in great style and this year had a baby son, born in London. With her came her husband, Major Edward Carlyon, a whiskery, medium-sized young man who liked to