Wayward Winds Read Online Free PDF Page B

presented herself to both her parents in the drawing room of Heathersleigh Hall.
    â€”———
    I received a letter from Sylvia Pankhurst today,” she said. “They are moving to London and have invited me to live with them there and join the movement. I have decided to accept their offer.”
    A heavy silence followed. The announcement was the last thing either Jocelyn or her husband had expected so soon after Amanda’s seventeenth birthday.
    â€œThis comes as quite a shock,” she managed to say after a moment. “Surely . . . you must realize that we need time to think it over.”
    â€œI told you when Father resigned from Parliament,” Amanda went on, “that I was determined to make my life count for something. Your beliefs are not mine. I want to make a difference in the world, and this offers me an opportunity. The world is changing. The Pankhursts are in the middle of it. I want to be part of it too.”
    A brief conversation ensued.
    â€œYou are making a serious mistake, Amanda,” said Charles Rutherford in a soft voice after the cool exchange.
    â€œNot in my eyes,” she replied.
    â€œThat will not prevent you from the consequences of it.”
    As father and daughter spoke, the mother did her best not to cry, but the struggle was proving unsuccessful.
    Ignoring the fatherly injunction, the daughter went on.
    â€œI am asking for nothing,” Amanda said. “I know George is the eldest and is your favorite—”
    â€œOh, Amanda—don’t say such things,” Jocelyn pleaded. “You must know that we love you.”
    Amanda drew in a deep breath but managed to conceal her annoyance at the words that sounded hollow in her ears.
    â€œI am requesting nothing, Father,” she repeated. “I know Heathersleigh and all that goes with it will be George’s someday. But if it is your plan to give me any portion of your inheritance, I would like to ask you to give it to me now so that I may use it to begin my new life in the city.”
    Again a lengthy silence followed.
    â€œWhatever you wish, my child,” the lord of the manor said at length, even more softly than before.
    Jocelyn was unable any longer to keep the tears from flowing. Thankfully the strained interview did not last much longer.
    â€”———
    A month after that talk with her parents, Amanda Rutherford, with all her worldly possessions and a cheque from her father for three thousand pounds, had departed from Devonshire to begin a new and exciting life in London.
    Amanda had now been in the city almost three years. Father and mother had not seen her since.

 7  Unwelcome Face
    From a high office window, two eyes gazed down on the street to the scene playing itself out between suffragettes, hecklers, and police.
    The watcher was but nineteen yet already held a position of growing importance in the offices of the bank located on the ground floor, in which establishment his father had risen to prominence as a vice-president. This latter fact in no small measure explained the professional prestige of the youth. No one particularly liked him, yet few begrudged the increasing stature of his position. Most recognized clearly enough his genius for any and all things financial. He would be a vice-president himself before long, they said, probably before he was thirty. It might well be that one day his father would work for him .
    The votes-for-women movement amused the youth. Even if they succeeded in convincing Parliament to grant them suffrage, which he doubted, men would still control the financial institutions of the land. Alongside that, what would the vote matter? These silly and arrogant women were engaged in a futile exercise which wouldn’t change the course of events one whit. When they had had enough they would return to their needlework and teas.
    He was about to turn away and resume work at his desk. Suddenly his eyes riveted