Amelia by Siobhan Parkinson Read Free Book Online

keep meeting on the stairs.’
    â€˜Amelia, for heaven’s sake,’ said Amelia. ‘How’s your mother, Mary Ann?’
    â€˜Much better, Miss. Amelia, I mean. Thanks to your ma.’
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜Well, you see, the medicine wasn’t doing her any good. Your ma said that was because she wasn’t getting enough nourishment. She said giving medicine to a person who’s not eating properly is like pouring it down the drain. So she started sending broth to my mother. And within a week, you could see the difference. She’s got a bit of colour back, and I really think the medicine is doing her some good now.’
    â€˜Oh,’ said Amelia. ‘I didn’t know.’
    â€˜She’s a living saint, your ma is,’ said Mary Ann.
    Amelia thought this a strange thing to say. Of course, Amelia didn’t go to church, but she had seen inside one or two on a few occasions, and the statues of saints she had seen were mostly very dreary-looking people with long faces who would trip up if they were alive, because their eyes were always cast heavenwards. Mama wasn’t the least bit like any of them.
    â€˜And if it wasn’t for her,’ Mary Ann was saying, ‘my ma’d be a dead saint, like all the other saints.’ And she gave a laugh at her macabre little joke.
    â€˜How can you laugh about that, Mary Ann?’ said Amelia in a shocked voice.
    â€˜Ah, Miss, you have to learn to laugh. It’s the only thing that keeps you going, sometimes, don’t you find?’
    â€˜No,’ said Amelia. ‘At least, I never thought about it.’
    â€˜Well, I’ve thought about it. And I can tell you it’s the truth. A good laugh sees you through many a worrisome moment.’
    â€˜And what about your brother Patrick, Mary Ann?’ Amelia asked.
    â€˜What about him?’ said Mary Ann stiffly.
    â€˜Well, I mean, is he still … is he still, you know, in prison?’
    â€˜Yes, he is, I’m proud to say,’ said Mary Ann.
    â€˜Proud!’ Amelia was stunned. How could anyone possibly be proud to have a prisoner in the family?
    â€˜Yes, Miss. I’m proud to be the sister of a patriot.’
    â€˜What’s that?’ asked Amelia. She had a vague idea it was something out of the Old Testament, but that didn’t seem very appropriate.
    â€˜It means someone who puts his country before his king,’ said Mary Ann staunchly.
    â€˜But the king is the country, isn’t he? In a manner of speaking .’
    â€˜We don’t see it that way. We serve neither king nor kaiser, but Ireland.’
    â€˜Gosh!’ breathed Amelia, not too sure what Mary Ann was on about, but impressed by the sound of it. ‘Are you a Nationalist, Mary Ann?’
    â€˜And a Socialist,’ nodded Mary Ann.
    â€˜Oh dear!’
    â€˜Don’t sound so disapproving, Miss Amelia. Your ma and da are Socialists too, or the next thing to it.’
    â€˜Oh no. We’re Quakers.’
    â€˜That’s what I mean. Friends of prisoners and champions of the poor, that’s what the Quakers are, I’ve been told. You people are pacificists, of course, but I don’t hold that against you.’
    â€˜Thank you. I’m glad.’
    â€˜You’re very welcome.’
    The two girls smiled at one another. Just then, Amelia’s mother’s voice came calling up the stairs: ‘Amelia! Do get a move on! We’re supposed to be there ten minutes ago.’
    â€˜Oops!’ said Amelia. ‘Mary Ann, I have to run. I’m being fitted for a gorgeous new dress. You’ll love it!’
    â€˜Goodbye, Miss. Amelia, I mean,’ said Mary Ann, but she was talking to the air, for Amelia had flown down the stairs with a clatter of feet and a whoop of laughter. Mary Ann could hear excited chattering in the hall as Amelia and her mother got their coats on. Presently the front door banged and the