The Best of Sisters by Dilly Court Read Free Book Online Page B

at the side of her cheek. ‘There now, you’re as pretty as a picture.’
    ‘You’re thirteen,’ Ted said smiling. ‘A young lady now, Liza. You’ll do us proud.’
    A shaft of fear stabbed through Eliza’s heart, and she would have ripped the bonnet off her head if Dolly and Ted had not been standing there, smiling so proudly. Turning thirteen meant one thing in Mrs Tubbs’s establishment, and looking pretty, if that were true, was a definite disadvantage; Eliza had no intention of ending up like Gertrude, Meg and Flossie.
    ‘Is anything wrong, dearie?’ Dolly’s face crumpled into lines of distress.
    ‘No! No, of course not.’ Eliza sat down, thrusting her feet into the boots, concentrating on doing up the buttons so that she did not have to look Dolly in the eye. ‘I dunno what to say, that’s all. I never had such wonderful presents in me whole life.’
    Ted cleared his throat with a loud harrumph. ‘Well you deserve them, ducks. Now get along to your place of work. You don’t want to upset that nice Mrs Tubbs, now do you?’
    ‘No, I don’t.’ Nice Mrs Tubbs indeed! Elizamanaged to smile but it was not easy. She longed to tell them the truth, but she must not spoil the day. She stood up, wriggling her toes inside the boots; if she was being honest her feet were not too comfortable. It was so long since she had worn shoes that it felt very strange. ‘I’d best be on me way or I’ll be late for work.’
    ‘You must wear your bonnet as well,’ Dolly said, thrusting the dreamy confection of silk and feathers into her hands.
    ‘No, really, I’d rather keep it for Sunday best.’
    ‘Don’t be daft, girl,’ Ted said, pulling on his cloth cap. ‘We bought it for you to wear every day like a proper young lady. I’ll walk you to the corner, Liza. And enjoy seeing folks admiring my pretty daughter.’ He offered her his arm and Eliza took it with a smile. Dolly gave her one last hug and, standing in the doorway, she waved enthusiastically. As they turned the corner, Eliza saw that she was still waving, although she suspected that without her specs Dolly could see no further than the end of her nose.
    Her new boots that creaked with every step and her blue bonnet certainly did attract stares from passers-by. Ted puffed out his chest with pride as they said goodbye on the corner of Old Gravel Lane. He strolled across the road to the chandlery and Eliza walked on to Mrs Tubbs’s establishment with a heavy heart. She had already decided that she was going to hide thebonnet as soon as she got to work, but she was not quick enough: Maisie spotted her as soon as she entered the kitchen. Lurching up from her chair, Maisie stumbled over a stool and only saved herself from falling by clutching at the edge of the table, sending a pile of dirty plates crashing to the floor.
    ‘Look at you,’ she jeered, pointing drunkenly at Eliza’s bonnet, ‘all dolled up like a Whitechapel doxy.’
    Eliza tugged at the ribbons but she only succeeded in tying them into a tighter knot. ‘Leave me be.’
    ‘Think yourself all la-di-da don’t you?’ Staggering crabwise with her boots crunching on shards of broken china, Maisie followed Eliza to the broom cupboard. ‘Look at you in new boots as well. Some bloke must have paid you well for your services, you little whore.’
    ‘Shut up!’ Turning on Maisie, Eliza faced up to her, too angry to feel frightened. ‘Leave me alone.’
    Maisie’s face contorted with rage and she raised her arm as if to strike Eliza, but, losing her balance, she fell flat on her back shrieking for help and with her legs waving in the air, like an upturned beetle. Eliza snatched up a broom, brandishing it in Maisie’s face. ‘Serves you right for drinking all that gin. You leave me alone or I’ll bop you one with this broom.’
    ‘What’s going on in here? I could hear the noise upstairs in the dining room.’ Mrs Tubbs’s stentorian voice echoed round the kitchen.
    Reluctantly, Eliza