Fogging Over by Annie Dalton Read Free Book Online Page A

cheeks.”
    “That’s what TB looks like in the early stages,” he said grimly. “Until they start coughing blood.”
    I forced myself to count to ten. He wanted to make me look bad in front of Lola. If I lost my temper I’d just be giving him what he wanted.
    “Victorians didn’t all have TB,” I pointed out, trying to make my voice calm and reasonable.
    “No, some of them died of diphtheria and typhus and cholera. Also polio and scarlet fever and pernicious anaemia—”
    That was too much. “Will you give it a rest !” I snapped.
    “Hey,” Lola said. “Brice has been here before, remember. He knows what he’s talking about.”
    Yeah, but did he have to keep ramming it down my throat?
    Georgie ran to fetch his sister a glass of water and she gulped it down. He sat down beside her and they leaned their foreheads together like two babes in the wood.
    Georgie suddenly seemed to reach a decision. “Your cough’s not getting any better. I’m going to see our uncle.”
    Charlotte looked panic-stricken. “Georgie, don’t, not after last time.”
    “I don’t care,” he said fiercely. “We’ve got to get you to a doctor.”
    She threw her arms round his neck. “Oh, Georgie, I wish we had someone to turn to!”
    “We have, we’ve got Uncle Noel,” he reminded her. “It wasn’t him who tried to have us sent to the workhouse. He was horrified when he heard what Aunt Agnes had been up to. He’s a good man, Charlotte, and he has suffered a great deal.”
    “Has he?” said Charlotte doubtfully. “He seems extremely fortunate to me. He is a very successful lawyer, and they have that fine house.”
    “He has done well for himself,” Georgie agreed. “But it must have been terrible when he was growing up, having to pretend his mama was a respectable widow, when she wasn’t even married. Then Grandfather refused to acknowledge him as his son and heir. My uncle has had nothing but bad treatment from our family, Charlie, yet he feels responsible for us. He said he would have us to live with him at Portman Square, if Aunt Agnes wasn’t such a witch.”
    His sister laughed. “He didn’t call her a witch!”
    “No, she’s more like his gaoler!” said Georgie. “He can’t spend a farthing without having to account to her. It must torture him seeing us living from hand to mouth, when he has the means to help us. I’m sure that’s why he sends me on all these strange errands to Newgate. It’s just an excuse to give me a few pence.”
    “How is Mr Godbolt?” said Charlotte.
    “He seemed frailer last time I was there, but then he must be quite old by now.”
    “Did our uncle ever tell you what Mr Godbolt did to get put in prison?” Charlotte asked.
    “He just said, ‘Edwin Godbolt made one fatal mistake. But he was a faithful employee for many years and though the law has found him guilty, I will not abandon him.’ You see what a fine man he is, Charlie?”
    A clock began to strike somewhere in the house. Charlotte jumped up. “I must go! Miss Temple is holding a seance in a few minutes.”
    “This we have to see,” I said to Lola.
    She looked uneasy. “I don’t know if I want to see someone pretending to talk to the dead.”
    “Oh, come on, it’ll be educational!”
    Her lips curved into a wicked smile. “OK,” she agreed. “So long as we don’t have fun.”
    We left Georgie in the kitchen drinking cocoa with Ivy and followed Charlotte into the back parlour. She immediately started peering under tables and into light fittings.
    The room was crammed with so much dark heavy furniture it was hard to breathe. “This house needs some serious Feng Shui!” I told Lola.
    “What’s Feng Shui?” she asked.
    “It’s basically Chinese for chucking out your clutter,” I explained.
    I have never seen so much stuff in one tiny room. I don’t know how Charlotte managed to move around without knocking anything over.
    Like, the table was covered with a fringy chenille cloth. The sideboard had