Summer's End by Amy Myers Read Free Book Online Page B

bed. ‘I’m quite sure you’re already fighting over who’s going to have my room.’
    Caroline grinned guiltily. ‘Discussing, not fighting.’
    â€˜Fighting,’ Felicia corrected, unusually light-hearted. Normally she left her two older sisters to squabble, and Phoebe to battle with George. ‘I’ll go and ask Mother what she thinks about the dress.’
    There was a brief silence as she left, which Caroline broke: ‘Now we’ll be in trouble. Are you sure –’ She stopped, diffident about what she wanted to ask.
    â€˜Go on.’ Isabel’s voice was studiedly neutral.
    â€˜That you’ll be happy?’
    â€˜I’ll be rich. I can’t bear this scrimping and saving. Wouldn’t you like to be rich, and never have to make home-made perfume again?’
    â€˜Not if it meant marrying someone I didn’t love.’
    Isabel flushed. ‘I do love Robert. Real love. Not like Phoebe –’
    â€˜Phoebe?’ Caroline forgot Isabel’s dexterity at switching away from unfortunate subjects.
    â€˜You’ll have to keep an eye on her when I’ve gone. I think she’s crushed on Mr Denis.’
    â€˜ What? ’ Caroline burst into laughter. ‘He’s far too sensible.’ Christopher Denis was a most earnest young curate whose passions centred on Greek, not girls.
    â€˜Perhaps, but Phoebe isn’t, and I do have a position to keep up.’
    Caroline mouth’s twitched. ‘What as? The Rector’s daughter?’
    â€˜As Robert’s fiancée. You’re very sanctimonious all of a sudden, Caroline.’
    â€˜I grew up,’ Caroline replied shortly. ‘Perhaps you should.’
    â€˜I have. I shall be sharing a bed with Robert, after all.’
    It was almost, Caroline thought, as if Isabel was determined to drag the subject up. ‘Have you thought about that?’ she asked tentatively.
    â€˜Of course,’ Isabel answered lightly. ‘There’s nothing to it if you shut your eyes.’
    â€˜You mean you know already?’ Caroline was taken aback.
    â€˜Of course not,’ Isabel snapped. ‘Mother told me, now that I’m going to be married,’ she added importantly.
    Caroline didn’t believe her. Mother wouldn’t. Isabel must have discussed it at finishing school. Somehow marriage didn’t seem much fun if all you had to do was shut your eyes. But then perhaps marriage was not meant to be fun, merely an almost necessary evil, as Aunt Tilly has once said jokingly to her. It seemed a doleful prospect.
    Â 
    â€˜I’m bored.’ Phoebe appeared at her bedroom door the next morning. An open door was understood between them as signalling they were ‘at home’. ‘You all do nothing but talk dresses, invitations, and dances. Nothing interesting .’
    Caroline was tempted to suggest she spent some worthwhile time on her appearance. Both cuffs of her blouse were misbuttoned, the garnet brooch at her throat was askew, and the bottom of her skirt suggested, first, that perhaps she hadn’t abandoned tree-climbing and second, that communication between herself and a cleaning brush, and/or Myrtle, was non-existent. Although Caroline was conscious of her own imperfections in this respect, Mother’s dictum that a lady is known by her shoes, gloves and hat appeared to have fallen completely on deaf ears where Phoebe was concerned. Her attractive plump, rosy looks, like a wild peony coming into bloom, owed nothing to grooming and much to her restless bouncing energy. She was going to have a shock at finishing school in September – or would the shock all be on the school’s side?
    â€˜What do you classify as interesting?’
    Phoebe searched in her repertoire and found nothing she could offer. She shrugged. ‘There’s something going on between Father and Aunt Tilly in his study. I think he’s throwing her