Kitty by Deborah Challinor Read Free Book Online Page A

heard the crunch and squeak of wheels on the carriageway at the front of the house, and peered through the window to see Uncle George and Aunt Sarah alighting from their gig. Both were grim-faced, but then they nearly always were. She heard them go into the house, then the droning murmur of hushed voices before they left again an hour later.
    At two o’clock she went downstairs and stood warily at the parlour door, waiting for her mother to acknowledge her. Emily was working on a piece of embroidery and, it seemed to Kitty, deliberately did not look up for some time. When she finally did, Kitty could see she’d been weeping.
    ‘Sit down, Katherine,’ Emily said.
    Kitty tensed—her mother only ever addressed her by her proper name when she was in the most dire trouble. She sat down.
    They looked like bookends, sitting one at each end of the sofa wearing almost identical black dresses and expressions of remorse, though for different reasons.
    Emily completed two more stitches then set her embroidery aside. She sat in silence for a moment, then contemplated her beautiful young daughter with infinite sadness.
    ‘You know that your behaviour yesterday was the worst thing you could possibly have done, don’t you?’ she said eventually. She didn’t sound angry now, just sad.
    Kitty nodded and opened her mouth to explain.
    Emily whipped up her hand to stop her. ‘No, I don’t want to hear excuses, Kitty, and I certainly don’t want to hear any of the details.’
    ‘But I loved him, Mama!’ Kitty burst out. ‘And I thought he loved me!’
    ‘If Hugh Alexander had loved you, he would have been here yesterday afternoon asking for your hand. It’s the only thing he could have done to save the last remaining tatters of your reputation. But he wasn’t here, was he?’
    Kitty remained silent: her mother was right.
    Emily took a deep breath. ‘Did you not once listen to me when I spoke to you about that man?’ she demanded.
    ‘I did, I listened,’ Kitty said, although they both knew she hadn’t taken any notice.
    ‘Did it never occur to you that there were good reasons for the things I said about him?’
    ‘I thought I loved him,’ Kitty said again, but with less conviction this time.
    ‘Oh, piffle! Love! What do you know about love?’
    Again Kitty was silent. Yesterday she was sure she knew everything about it, but today there was only pain—and a growing sense of humiliation.
    ‘Do you remember Minnie Bentley?’ Emily said. ‘Her father was chief clerk at Ormsby’s mill.’
    Frowning, Kitty nodded. She and Minnie had been friends, then twoyears ago Minnie’s family had suddenly left the district.
    ‘Did Minnie ever tell you why they left?’
    ‘She said her father had a new position in Birmingham.’
    ‘Well, he may or may not have had a new position, but the real reason they went was because Minnie…’ Emily faltered. ‘Well, Minnie got herself into trouble.’
    ‘What sort of trouble?’
    ‘She found herself in the family way.’
    Kitty’s mouth fell open. ‘A baby? Minnie had a baby?’
    ‘Well, I assume she had it. Naturally they left before it became too obvious.’
    ‘Poor Minnie.’
    ‘Stupid Minnie,’ Emily amended. ‘Poor Mr and Mrs Bentley is more like it. Truly, the shame of it.’ She took a deep and ragged breath. ‘Kitty, I have to ask you this. Did you and that man, well, are you still…intact?’
    Infinitely relieved that she actually still was, Kitty muttered, ‘Yes,’ and watched as the colour slowly crept back into her mother’s face.
    ‘Well, that’s some consolation, I suppose. The reason I mentioned Minnie Bentley is because of who fathered her child. It was Hugh Alexander, Kitty, and, obviously, he refused to marry her.’
    Kitty felt as though someone had struck her. She seemed unable to breathe and there was a roaring noise in her ears. She wanted to refute it, to shout that Hugh would never do such an awful thing, but she knew in her heart that he would. After