Without a Mother's Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

scanning the moorland.
    She crawled on all fours, pulling herself along the ground with her arms and legs, trying to imitate the farm cat as he stalked rats in the barn. She narrowed her eyes, prepared to pounce, and was disappointed when she raised her head to see her governess retracing her steps down the track. She had stopped calling her name and Olivia panicked: Miss Trent was heading for the door to the old garden.
    She jumped to her feet, and cried,‘Over here! Come quickly, there’s a snake!’
    Miss Trent turned and ran towards her. ‘Where? Did it bite you?’
    ‘No, it’s gone.’ She watched the older woman’s face change from relief to - well, Olivia wasn’t sure. Not anger, she thought. Miss Trent’s gentle smile disappeared and the grey eyes stared without blinking.
    ‘I expect it was frightened of you. Vipers usually are,’ Miss Trent said. ‘Why did you run away? Are you frightened of me?’
    ‘No. I gave you a fright, though, didn’t I?’ Olivia thought this would make her cross, but Miss Trent merely continued to gaze at her.
    ‘You most certainly do now,’ she responded.‘You’re a dreadful sight, with twigs in your hair and your gown dirty and torn. You will have to mend that tonight instead of listening to a story. Shall we finish our nature walk?’ Miss Trent took a firm grip on Olivia’s hand and set off up the track at a brisk pace.
    Reluctantly, Olivia followed her, growing warm with the exercise. She was relieved when Miss Trent suggested they rest on a boulder. Olivia sat beside her, watching the sheep graze and the rabbits romping in the scrubby pasture.
    ‘Do you know what they’re doing?’ Miss Trent asked.
    ‘The rabbits? They’re fighting.The doves fight like that sometimes. They chase around and jump on each other’s backs.’
    Miss Trent didn’t say much more but she asked Olivia to pick some flowers: they would take them back to the schoolroom. ‘We shall find out their names from a book,’ she said.
    Olivia didn’t reply. She knew some of them already from Mrs Cookson, but she wasn’t going to tell that to Miss Trent. It was easier walking down the track, and Olivia was pleased to hurry as she was hungry. As they passed the old garden Miss Trent asked her if she wanted to go dragon-hunting.
    ‘No!’ she exclaimed.
    ‘Another day, then.’
    Olivia became thoughtful. Miss Trent wasn’t like Mrs Cookson, who told her to be seen and not heard and not to answer back. Mrs Cookson soon lost patience with her, when she had to get back to her work, leaving Olivia to do as she liked as long as Uncle Hesley didn’t find out.
    Miss Trent was different. She didn’t give up like Mrs Cookson and she was quicker in every way. Olivia wouldn’t be able to escape from her governess so easily. She hoped Miss Trent wouldn’t be with her every minute of the day or she would never again be able to go to her wilderness. If her governess was here to stay, would she ever have any proper freedom?
     
    A few days later Olivia was copying letters on her slate in the schoolroom when Harriet heard horses on the cobbles in the yard. Out of the window, she saw the master return with a gentleman in his middle years. Both looked angry and dishevelled and they left their horses loose when they went indoors. Matt came hurrying out to gather up the trailing reins and tend the steaming beasts.
    An hour later, Harriet hurried past the sound of raised voices coming from the library as she went to fetch water for Olivia to wash before dinner. The kitchen was filled with a delicious smell of roasting pork and tangy stewed apple.
    Mrs Cookson was busy laying a tray.‘You’d better have your dinner up there today. The master’s in a rage. I should stay out of his way,’ she said.
    Harriet remembered how irrational the principal at Blackstone could be when he was angered. She considered this good advice but was curious none the less. ‘What’s happened?’ she asked.
    ‘There’s been a