Read Online A Fatal Freedom by Janet Laurence - Free Book Online Page B

front of each. Ursula was led into one somewhere near the middle. Inside was a narrow hall, with a tiled floor in black and red. It had the anonymous look typical of an establishment that let out rooms. A door on the right led into a living room.
    ‘I’m back, Martha,’ Rachel Fentiman called, taking off her hat.
    Alice Peters appeared and flung herself into her sister’s arms.
    ‘Oh, Rachel; I have been such a fool,’ she said and burst into tears.
    ‘Please, Alice,’ said Mrs Trenchard wearily. Ursula was surprised to see her sitting in a straight-backed chair beside a desk. Rachel’s living room was large and well proportioned, furnished with a minimum of pieces and dominated by a well-stocked, breakfront bookcase. Beside it, upsetting any semblance of symmetry, was a set of open shelves crammed with more books and a pile stood on the floor threatening to overtip. There was only one picture on the walls, a portrait of a sweet-faced woman with fair hair who bore a great resemblance to Alice Peters. A tall window gave on to the square and a round table stood before it. There were only two chairs that looked at all comfortable and the room had a look that said here lived someone concerned only with practicalities.
    ‘Come and sit down, my sweet.’ Rachel guided her sister to one of the comfortable chairs and settled her in it. ‘Now tell me what has happened.’
    ‘I will take my leave,’ said Ursula, feeling a great reluctance to go but knowing that she was an intruder. ‘Perhaps we may meet up another day?’
    ‘No,’ said Rachel Fentiman decisively. ‘You have already seen so much, we have no secrets to hide. Do you not agree, Aunt?’
    Mrs Trenchard gave a hopeless shrug. The woman who had dominated Mrs Bruton’s tea party seemed older and her air of command seemed to have slipped from her like a too-heavy cloak.
    ‘And you may well be able to help us once again.’ Rachel crouched down beside her sister. Alice tried to wipe her eyes with a small handkerchief that already looked quite sodden.
    An elderly woman brought in a tray of tea and set it on the table in front of the window.
    ‘Thank you, Martha,’ said Rachel. ‘I was just about to ask you to bring some. As usual, you read my mind.’
    Ursula smiled at the woman. ‘Why don’t I pour the tea?’ she suggested.
    The little ceremony seemed to calm the atmosphere in the room. Ursula cut large pieces of the excellent-looking seed cake.
    While attending to this task, Ursula had a good view of the square with a heavy curtain protecting her from being seen. A postman was delivering letters to houses on the other side. Two men dressed in formal business attire descended from a cab. A middle-aged woman hurried past the window. There was no sign of Jackman.
    ‘I found her on my doorstep,’ said Mrs Trenchard, taking the plate with a slice of cake Ursula handed to her. ‘About to ring the bell. Dear Felix is not at all well and must not be disturbed, so I bundled her into a cab and brought her here. I am afraid she was quite unable to give me a coherent account of her activities.’ She drummed her fingers irritably on the desk. ‘Apart from the fact that she has left her husband.’
    Alice Peters was shivering, her huge violet eyes swollen and red, her mouth quivering. ‘I could not stay,’ she moaned. ‘I could not stay one more minute. Not after I knew my feelings for Daniel.’
    A hand banged down on the desk. ‘I never thought to hear my sister’s child abandon her duty!’ The words seemed wrenched from Mrs Trenchard, her face a cold mask. Alice Peters visibly flinched.
    ‘She owes no duty to that brute,’ Rachel Fentiman said angrily. She rose. ‘How can you talk like that, Aunt? What about the equality for women that you fight for?’
    ‘Achieving female suffrage has nothing to do with the duty a wife owes to her husband.’
    ‘Balderdash!’ Rachel once again crouched beside her sister. ‘Tell us everything, Alice,’ she said