Sons and Daughters by Margaret Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page A

she walked back to the house, there’s this dinner party to get through.
    I’ll be glad when it’s all over.

 
Seven
     
    ‘Where’s Miss Charlotte? I want to see Miss Charlotte.’
    From the kitchen, Charlotte heard the little boy’s piping voice in the hallway as the Thornton family arrived and, then, her father’s answer.
    ‘I’m very sorry, young man, but Miss Charlotte has a headache and has begged to be excused.’
    ‘But I’ve brought her some flowers. Father said I might.’
    ‘And magnificent they are, too. I’ll see that they’re taken to her room. Morgan,’ Osbert addressed Edward, ‘see to it at once. Now, if you’ll come this way, dinner is about to be served.’
    The voices died away as Osbert and his guests moved into the room and Edward pushed his way through the door from the hall, carrying the biggest bouquet of flowers Charlotte had ever seen in her life.
    ‘I expect they’re from the greenhouses at the manor, miss.’
    With trembling fingers, she touched the lovely blooms – daffodils, tulips, iris and even roses.
    ‘No one’s ever given me flowers before,’ she murmured. ‘How thoughtful. How kind.’
    And how sad, Edward was thinking, that they come from a six-year-old!
    The dinner party was going well. Osbert sat at the head of the table looking around with deep satisfaction. Three sons. How lucky the man was. And he didn’t even seem to appreciate it. If only . . . Osbert’s attention was drawn, not to the little chatterbox, whom his father made no attempt to quieten, but to the eldest of the three boys.
    Philip Thornton was everything that Osbert looked for in a young man and everything that he’d desired in a son of his own. At sixteen, the youth was tall and slim, with handsome, even features. His blond hair – so fair it was almost white – was smoothed back from his broad forehead. His blue eyes were intelligent, if a trifle cold and calculating. But even that was a quality Osbert esteemed. He liked the steely look of determination. The young man would go far in life.
    Osbert felt an unaccustomed thrill and his heart quickened its beat as an idea began to form in his mind. A preposterous idea, but a wonderful one. He continued to regard Philip through narrowed eyes, assessing him, judging him. The boy caught his gaze and held it with a haughty arrogance that further increased the older man’s admiration.
    What a splendid young man! What a son!
    He leaned towards him. ‘And what do you hope to do, Philip? I understand that you’re at boarding school at present?’
    Philip smiled stiffly. ‘Yes, sir.’ He answered politely enough, but he was not enjoying the evening. He’d been aware of their host’s gaze upon him and had found it disconcerting.
    ‘And after school?’ Osbert prompted. ‘What then?’
    ‘I’d like to read law at university.’
    Osbert felt a flash of disappointment. ‘Indeed? So you do not intend to take over the running of the Ravensfleet Estate from your father?’ He smiled, though the smile did not reach his eyes. For many years Osbert’s smile had been a mere stretching of the lips. No humour or kindliness ever reached his eyes. ‘Though, of course, that should be many years off.’
    Philip glanced across the table at his father. There was a slight sneer to his mouth as he said, ‘I don’t think farming is for me. Besides, as you say, that’s many years off. And there are two more sons – ’ he gestured towards his siblings – ‘who are probably more suited to – ’ he paused and added sarcastically, ‘more suited to the bucolic life.’
    Osbert’s eyes narrowed. It was a blow to his idea, but merely a setback. Far from being put off by the young man’s arrogance, he liked him even more.
    ‘I – see,’ he said slowly. ‘But you wouldn’t – surely – be averse to being a land owner , would you? Even if you didn’t want to till the soil with your own bare hands, as it were, you’d like to be a man of