Read Online A Future Arrived by Phillip Rock - Free Book Online

scaffolding. He warned us to stay off it, but it was too irresistible. Roger was eight, the same age as Charles. They looked to me for leadership and oh! did I lead them! Up those rickety towers and along narrow catwalks, climbing about like ruddy apes. Coatsworth would bellow at us to come down before we broke our necks.”
    She rubbed his back, kneading the taut muscles. “And did you obey the poor man?”
    â€œOf course, but we took our sweet time doing so. A noble gentleman, Coatsworth. He never told my father or the earl what we were up to.”
    â€œHanna would like us to stay over for a week and keep her company. That is if the army can spare you.”
    His laugh was sardonic. “If I ask General bloody Towerside for a week’s leave he’d urge me to take a few years! You can call Hanna and tell her she has house guests.” He turned to her, parting her robe and resting the side of his face against her breasts. “God, you smell wonderful.”
    â€œLavender soap.”
    â€œNo. Inner loveliness. The perfume of the soul. I’d make love to you, my sweet, but I feel like a corpse.”
    She kissed the top of his head. “You’re making love to me now.”
    He rolled over on the bed and was asleep instantly. Like a cat, Winifred was thinking as she covered him with a blanket. He would snap awake in three or four hours, springing up as refreshed as though he had enjoyed a full night’s rest.
    She dressed and went downstairs. She could hear the twins shouting at one another in the back of the house, Victoria’s voice a high-pitched note of aggrievement …
    â€œYou’re beastly! Beastly! …” and Jennifer sounding pained and affronted … “Me? Me? Never! …”
    It was not an argument that she cared to referee at the moment and so she continued on through the old, rambling house to the drawing room.
    Jacob Golden sat on a sofa drinking a cup of coffee. Eight-year-old Kate Wood-Lacy sat beside him showing off her collection of flowers that she had pressed and dried between the pages of a thick, unwieldy book.
    â€œAnd this is a primrose,” she said, turning the pages with her small hands.
    â€œA primrose by the river’s brim …” Jacob said. “Wordsworth.”
    â€œI plucked it from the garden .” She turned the pages. “And this is a jonquil.”
    â€œI can’t think of any poem with a jonquil in it.” He smiled at Winifred as she walked across the room toward them. “Can you, Winnie? Daffodils, but not jonquils.”
    â€œNo jonquils.” She sat on the sofa beside her daughter and brushed a strand of soft brown hair from the girl’s forehead. They looked alike. The hair, the oval face, the same cream-and-blush complexion. “I saw Nanny on the landing. She said you didn’t tidy up your room as told.”
    â€œI will.”
    â€œIndeed you will—or you stay here with Nanny when we go to the Pryory on Friday.”
    The little girl closed the book with a snap. “I’ll tidy up … you’ll see. Will Uncle Anthony let me ride the pony again?”
    â€œUncle Anthony is in the hospital, dear. He’s not feeling very well, but I’m sure Mr. Gardway will take you for a ride.”
    â€œThe earl’s ill?” Jacob asked.
    â€œAngina. I’m sure he’ll be all right. His old butler died and I suppose it was a shock to him. He’d been with him for ages.”
    Kate got off the sofa, cradling the heavy book with both arms. “I’ll go to my room now, Mummy. Do you mind not seeing all the flowers, Uncle Jacob?”
    â€œI don’t mind, Kate. You can show them to me the next time I come.” He watched her leave the room. “A delightful child.”
    Winifred smiled ruefully. “Thank God I have one calm and collected girl. Jenny continues to be a hellion and Vicky, heaven help us all, has just discovered