My True Companion by Sally Quilford Read Free Book Online Page A

a lengthy lecture from her employer.
“Really, Millicent, the way you threw yourself at that man.”
    “Which man?” Millie had asked, her cheeks aflame.
    “Haxby, of course. Unless there are others I don’t know
about. I daresay that like many young girls you find him exciting, but you must
know he is not for the likes of you. I don’t say this unkindly,” Mrs Oakengate
paused, as if garnering her strength. “But you are a plain girl, with no real
attributes. The sort of woman who would excite James Haxby would have seen
something of the world. She would be older, sophisticated, and not … I am sorry
to say … the daughter of an executed spy. Now, I will forgive you your
behaviour today, but should you disobey me again, you will find yourself out of
a job. I do not need to remind you that you would find great difficulty in
finding other employment with an upper classed employer, given your status. No,
you and I are stuck with each other, through my loyalty to your dear mother. So
we must make the best of it. And we can only do that if you clear your mind of
any silly notions of finding a man who will want to marry you.”
    The memory of Mrs Oakengate’s dressing down caused Millie to
fall onto her bed, beating her fists into her pillow. If only she had Haxby’s
courage. If only she had any courage. The growing fear that Mrs Oakengate was
right gripped her like a vice, constricting her, knocking the breath right out
of her.
    Millie had no ‘silly notions’ as Mrs Oakengate called them,
of being married. She tried not to consider that marriage to Haxby might be
very exciting. It might be exhilarating to be in his company, given that he was
such a force of nature, but she had no illusions about him.
    And yet, he had aroused feelings in her she never knew she
had. Yearnings for something she was afraid to name, but which made body tingle
at the thought of his touch. Had she really thrown herself at him? She blushed
to think it might be so. He probably despised her for it every bit as much as
Mrs Oakengate did, whilst encouraging her – perhaps because it flattered his
ego – with a kindness and tenderness she had not known since her father’s
death.
    The worst part was that what Mrs Oakengate said about her
not finding other employment might well be true. How then could she live? It
was then that Millie realised she was neither a proud nor a snobbish person.
She would happily work in a factory or a shop, rather than suffer years of
humiliation at the hands of Mrs Oakengate. She had seen the factory girls on
the streets near to her old home. They had often looked exhausted at the end of
their shift, but also possessed, in their countenance, a look of freedom that
she now lacked.
    She paced her floor, long into the night, working out if it
would be possible to just leave Mrs Oakengate. She would have to give notice,
and that was the part that worried her. She suspected that Mrs Oakengate would
simply brush the resignation aside, and carry on as if nothing had changed. To
run away might be her only chance of avoiding years as Mrs Oakengate’s charity
case. She would leave a note, of course, so that no one would try to send the
police after her, as they might if she did just disappear.
    She realised she could not go anywhere until the
investigation into Hortense Parker-Trent’s death had ended. They might think
she was running away because she was guilty. Besides, she wanted to know the
answer herself. Who had pushed Hortense off the cliff? Was her husband’s death
really a heart attack, due to immense grief? Or was there something more
sinister afoot? Who had Hortense heard speaking about Millie’s father? The
thought that someone in the house was a murderer disturbed Millie greatly.
    Unable to sleep, Millie picked up Barbara Conrad’s
manuscript, and tried to read a few paragraphs. It was very well written, and
Barbara had a way of deftly showing the idiosyncrasies of human nature. Despite
that, Millie could