Page 58 of Trouble

It would be worth anything to help Amy. That she was sure of. But if she ever told Amy exactly what she had done to secure doctor’s visits for a year, she knew with utmost certainty that Amy would never speak to her again.

Amy cared very much whose toes she stepped on. She was the sort to keep her eyes on the ground, just in case.

This, Emily was sure, was why she was finding the idea of going to the Rose and Crown again so difficult. It had nothing to do with the memory of Captain Edwards sitting across from her, smiling in a way that made her feel .?.?. warm. Happy. Hopeful.

That was all, quite frankly, disgusting.

‘Did I ever tell you about the time I accidentally bought a horse instead of pork chops?’ Akia said conversationally, as she pulled back the curtains in the schoolroom to give the windows a quick lick with a cloth. Through the glass, Emily could see some of the last of the shipwrecked sailors departing by wagon.

‘No,’ said Emily, putting away books. ‘Probably best if you—’

‘The horse was alive,’ said Akia. ‘But very old. I did think it was expensive for chops, though.’

‘At what point did you realise your mistake?’

‘Before we put it in the marinade,’ said Akia. ‘No, I’m joking. I worked it out at the market, when I was expecting to be handed a parcel of chops and they gave me a halter with a horse attached to it instead.’

Emily laughed. ‘Does anything normal ever happen to you?’

‘Sadly, yes,’ said Akia. ‘Toomuch normality. I could do with more horse chops days.’

Grace came into the room and threw herself down into an armchair; it was so unlike her that both Emily and Akia stared at her, waiting to discover what had caused such dramatics.

‘I am in love,’ she said.

‘Not this again,’ said Emily.

‘Again?’ said Akia. ‘Good Lord. Have you been breaking hearts?’

‘No,’ said Grace. ‘Simply having mine broken.’

Emily sighed. ‘Grace, the sailors are mostly twice your age, and the ones who aren’t probably haven’t discovered what a girlisyet.’

‘Officer Calthorpe would never dare be so old,’ said Grace insistently. ‘And I amsurehe knows what a girl is.’

‘You didn’t talk to him, did you?’ Emily said quickly.

It was just the sort of thing Grace might do: launch herself at an officer and ask him if he had a dog and if he’d like to marry her, not realising how disastrous the consequences might be.

‘No,’ said Grace. ‘But I opened my window and listened to him talking to his friend. He said that Father is very handsome, and wondered if he did not get lonely in this house – which is silly, of course, because if Father wanted company he could come to me and Aster, and you two, and Oliver, Meera—’

‘Yes, yes,’ Emily said. ‘Remind me to explain the use of et cetera today.’

‘Do you not think that the house developed a certain .?.?. miasma,’ Akia said to Grace, ‘while they were here? Are you not looking forward to air less foul?’

‘Maybe,’ Grace said diplomatically. ‘But I will miss their ridiculous arguments, and the way they liked to shove each other, and all of the excellent swearing.’

Aster, it seemed, had also fallen in love, but in a very different way. She came storming in and sat down in the other armchair, cross-armed and frowny.

‘I wish to be a sailor,’ she announced. ‘I think my true calling is the sea.’

‘Aster,’ said Emily. ‘You just saw how dangerous it can be at sea. Did you really look upon that shipwreck and think, “Oh, how splendid, I must get myself aboard one of those at once”?’

‘Yes, actually,’ said Aster, scuffing the rug with her shoe. ‘Don’t be a bore, Amy. Let’s have something maritime today.’

‘The Rime of the Ancient Marinerit is,’ said Emily.

‘Christ,’ said Akia. ‘And that is very much my cue to leave.’