To Dream of Snow Read Online Free PDF Page B

acquaintances had become intermittent, and mostly she had to take her chance at hostelries with everyone else, although she always had the best room available.
    It was always exciting for the seamstresses when the coaches passed through a town. They looked out at the shops, the fashions, and the different architecture. In Dresden they gazed up at the great cathedral as they were driven by. It was when the convoy halted for a change of horses at a post house in Frankfurt-on-Oder that one of the d’Oinville menservants came to the seamstresses’ coach as they were about to alight and handed in six individual foot-warmers.
    â€˜You’ll be glad of these when the weather gets cold,’ he informed them cheerfully. ‘We get them filled with hot coals from inns that we’ll pass. There’s a stock of fur knee-rugs for you too later on and you’ll need them, believe me! I’ve done this journey before and I know.’ He glanced at Violette with a mischievous wink. ‘If you need any extra warmth you can always have my arms around you.’
    â€˜Impudent devil!’ Violette retorted, but she was amused and flashed her eyes at him. ‘How long before we move on again?’
    â€˜Only half an hour. So don’t wander off too far.’
    When the seamstresses returned from a short walk another coach was waiting to join the convoy when it departed again. Violette, inquisitive by nature, soon found out from the same manservant that the traveller was an Englishwoman, Mistress Sarah Warrington. Accompanied by her maid, she would be travelling all the way to the Russian city of Riga. Violette relayed this information to her companions as they settled themselves in their seats again. They were all interested as so far nobody else would be with the convoy all the way to Russia, other travellers coming and going along the route.
    Marguerite was the first to see the new arrival from where she sat by the window. It was just a glimpse as the Englishwoman’s coach rolled past to take its place in the convoy. She saw a pretty, delicately boned face, framed by soft brown hair before the moment was gone.
    â€˜What’s the maid’s name?’ Rose asked as the wheels began to roll again. ‘Is she English too?’
    â€˜No,’ Violette replied. ‘Blanche Chamier is a fellow countrywoman of ours, originally from Boulogne, but she’s been with the Englishwoman for some time. She’s a big, strong-looking woman and will be well able to lift her mistress in and out of the coach if need be.’
    â€˜Has the lady difficulty in walking?’ Rose bit into half of the sweetmeat she had bought from one of the pedlars, the other half given to Isabelle.
    â€˜No, but she was taken ill after arriving here and had to be nursed for several weeks. She’s come from France and is on her way to join her husband, but she had to stay on in this city until she’d recovered from whatever it was that ailed her. She hasn’t fully regained her strength yet and in Blanche Charmier’s opinion she shouldn’t be starting out again for another couple of weeks at least. But the lady made a promise to her husband before he left for Russia that she would join him with the least possible delay and is anxious to continue her journey.’ Violette threw up her hands merrily. ‘What we women do for love!’
    â€˜We all know what you do!’ Jeanne bantered good-humouredly, giving her a nudge with an elbow, and they both laughed.
    â€˜Why didn’t she travel with him in the first place?’ Sophie questioned, her arched brows meeting in a frown. She was intrigued by the thought of this lone woman making such a great journey with only a maid for company.
    â€˜He had to leave at short notice three months ago and she was left to see to the packing up of their home in France where they had lived for four years.’
    â€˜Where was that?’
    â€˜Near the