Page 77 of Trouble

Emily smiled, and they lapsed into silence until Amy’s eye cracked open.

‘Who sent the doctor?’ she said.

The answer, which had been slowly dawning on Emily for the past few days, was almost unbearable.

‘Captain Edwards.’

‘CaptainEdwards?’ said Amy, her other eye flying open as this caught her interest. ‘Goodness. Did you ask him to—?’

‘No,’ Emily said emphatically. ‘God, no. But his daughter is unwell, and she has a doctor, so I suppose the captain thought .?.?.’

‘Oh, Emily,’ Amy said. ‘What have you done?’

Emily bristled. ‘What do you mean,what have I done?’

‘You are practicallyblushing, which I have never seen you do before,’ said Amy. ‘Have you also succumbed to fever, or have you .?.?.? You didn’t .?.?.?’

‘Nothing happened.’ Emily had apparently become a worse liar during her time away, because Amy snorted. ‘All right. We .?.?. There was a .?.?. amoment. The night before I left. But it didn’t mean anything. He’s just some rich toff who thinks he can have anything he wants, and .?.?. and I am certainly not stupid enough to risk anything by believing that he reallylikesme.’

‘Oh,’ said Amy. ‘Is he horrid, then?’

‘Yes,’ said Emily. ‘Well .?.?. no, actually. I’m not sure. He has certainly never been the least bit forcefulwith me, if that’s what you mean. But .?.?. if he were truly a good man, he wouldn’t have kissed me.’

‘Hekissedyou?’ Amy said.

She was looking so animated now that Emily was worried she might burn through all her energy in one fell swoop.

‘Calm down – it meant absolutely nothing,’ Emily said. ‘Just a wealthy man’s whim. I suppose he would have kissed anybody.’

Amy did not seem willing to believe this.

‘Or perhaps he likes you,’ she said. ‘Perhaps he has fallen madly in love with you, despite your differences in station, and wishes to whisk you off to the altar and bring you back as the lady of Fairmont House, to—’

‘Amy,’ Emily said sharply. ‘Stop it. I mean it.’

Her sister did not know the whole truth of the matter: her lies, her meetings with Charles, the fact that she had been at Fairmont under Amy’s own name. If she knew the extent of it all, she would not think it so romantic. She would understand exactly why Captain Edwards could never really love her, had he also known the truth.

Shewouldtell Amy. Just not at a time where the shock was likely to spike her fever.

‘Oh, fine,’ Amy grumbled. ‘But you are being a terrible bore. What would be so strange about him liking you?Ilike you, and I have wonderful taste.’

‘You are a saint,’ said Emily. ‘And probably some sort of earthbound angel, or something equally distasteful.’

‘Oh, you stop,’ said Amy. ‘I hate it when you talk like this.’

‘I am telling the truth.’

‘Emily,’ Amy said, sitting up on her elbows. ‘I’mnotanything even close to an angel. I have plenty of terrible thoughts. I am selfish, sometimes. You make me less of a person when you do this. You act as if I am perfect, and put me on a pedestal, and use me to flagellate yourself – ifIam good, then you must be bad. But I don’t want to be any of that to you. I certainly do not want to be an ideal you use to martyr yourself. I just want to be your sister.’

‘Youaremy sister,’ said Emily. ‘Look, lie back down, that doctor said you needed rest—’

‘You are,’ Amy barrelled on, ‘quite frequently a bit of an arse, but you are notbad, no matter how much you insist so, and you deserve to have good things. No, don’t look at me like that, I mean it. You have always done everything for me and nothing for yourself, and I am sick to death of it. It’s starting to reflect very poorly on me, you know.’

Emily looked at her fondly, despite this ridiculous tirade.

‘Don’t say “sick to death”, you idiot. You’re tempting fate.’

‘Well, all I’m saying is, perhaps he likes you! And there’s no use me warning you to be careful, because you are always fartoocareful. I’m surprised you let him close enough to kiss you without maiming him.’