Black Diamonds by Kim Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

compensation payment I’ve drawn for them.’
    I feel in turn the muscles of my face range through naked surprise, perplexity and suspicion. Father really has gone mad. Where is Mr Drummond to back me up?
    â€˜There’s reason here,’ he holds up his hand again. ‘You’ve met the lad, and he’s not in a good way, in his spirits. I don’t think he’d appreciate me turning up, one of the bosses, you know … no, you don’t know, and that’s the point … But you, in your blessed innocence, won’t offend him or his mother as I might; you might soften the exchange, and at the same time see what it means.’
    â€˜What what means?’ I ask, beside myself. I cannot imagine The Lad is very likely to think me a softening agent, but I can’t gather my thoughts swiftly enough to express that right now.
    â€˜I know what it means to be poor, Francy, very, very poor; you don’t. I’ve spent the last twenty years denying it. I have been blessed, in so many ways, with you, your mother … and most times more money than I needed. I wouldn’t take a minute of any of my good fortune back — nor any of my indulgences, wise and unwise. But I’ve climbed over the backs of others to have the means for it all, pretending all the while that I’m only playing with the pennies and the rest has little to do with me, and you can’t remove yourself from that kind of hypocrisy indefinitely. It comes back to bite those that leave themselves open to it, and I’d rather you never get bitten.’
    I have no idea what he’s talking about, and plead into his ramble: ‘But what if they don’t appreciate the boss’s daughter either?’
    â€˜Well, that will be worth your understanding too. It’ll be all right, Francy. Trust me. It might not make too much sense to you now, but it will, in time. I want the best for you, but having it, really having it, requires knowing the score. I’ll be plain: you’re too naive, too sheltered, and that makes you vulnerable; it’s also a waste on a girl as clever as you are. I never want you to know poverty, of course, but I want you to know what it means to work, and what it means to be good. To be decent. The things the sisters couldn’t teach you, because they must be learned in themselves. I’m afraid, on balance, I’ve not been a good example, my darling girl.’
    His eyes moisten, and he hasn’t even touched the port. He has that heartbroken look that makes me spring to his defence. ‘Of course you’re good! Silly thing. You’re overtired, that’s what you are,’ I say, although what I really want to ask is what this is all about. But I don’t and I won’t, because I know he’s going to change the subject as he always does when he’s said as much as he’s going to say.
    â€˜You got some sun today,’ He nods with the pipe, and winks. Sparkling at me.
    I put my hand to my face. It’s broiled. At least The Lad won’t be able to tell whether or not I’m blushing when I make my preposterous errand tomorrow. This is too bizarre for contemplation. I go off to bed with Mr Drummond’s Oh whispering to me again, and a nagging expectation of failure. Father has, as he said, let me be, and letting me follow my own mind has apparently not been for the best thus far.

 
    DANIEL
    Mim’s had another girl. Isobella. She already had that name pegged. She came before Mum even got there and for a second I want to ask Mum what time she came, to know if it was before or after. Like me and the other Daniel. But I don’t believe in all that rubbish anyway and doubt that Dad would agree to come back as a girl. Mum tells me about Isobella down to the way her hair sticks up on her head and I know what she means. We’ve all got that hair, like Mum’s — dark and straight as paint bristles; you don’t want to