Read Online Autumn Softly Fell by Dominic Luke - Free Book Online Page B

by now.’ He had gone on to tell her loftily that he had no time for her – no time for mere
girls
– even if she
was
his cousin – which, he’d added, looking down his nose at her, he very much doubted. Dorothea had done her best to keep the peace by staying out of his way but every time she’d turned round, it seemed, he had been there – for all the world as if he was following her.
    ‘What are you doing now, Dotty Dot-dot? What game are you playing?’
    ‘I’m not playing any game, I’m just minding my own business like Nanny said I should. Please won’t you leave me alone? And don’t call me Dot. Only Papa calls me Dot.’
    ‘Then what
am
I to call you? Cuckoo in the nest? Answer me! Answer me at once! If you don’t, I shall pull your hair!’
    He had pulled so hard it had made her cry out.
    ‘What’s all this? What’s this hullaballoo?’ Nanny had suddenly loomed over them, had swatted Dorothea aside with one clout, had grabbed Roderick by the ear. ‘Master Roderick! If you
won’t
behave yourself then you must be taught a
lesson
!’
    She had given Roderick such a leathering it had made Dorothea’s eyes water. The fact that Roderick gritted his teeth and didn’t utter a sound had only served to spur Nanny on.
    ‘You were very brave!’ Dorothea had whispered afterwards when Nanny was safely out of the way and Roderick was lying under the table on his belly with his head in his hands. Mickey had liked to be called
brave
. It had made him puff out his chest.
    ‘I don’t care about being brave,’ Roderick had said in a voice which made Dorothea wonder if he’d been crying. ‘But she shan’t catch me again. I shan’t let her. You’ll see.’
    Now Roderick had gone. He was back at school. And Dorothea’s heart sank as she sat at the big table and thought about tomorrow and the arrival of the monster. After tomorrow, long, dreary days would seem like paradise. Things were about to take a turn for the worst, she had no doubt.

    ‘Oh, but Dorossea, zis is very bad! Did your previous governess teach you
nothing
?’
    Dorothea’s blood ran cold. Was this the moment when the monster struck?
    They were sitting at the big table, books spread out in front of them. The lesson was called
arithmetic
. It was impossibly complicated . Dorothea would not have understood it even if her head had not been spinning with fear. What made it worse was that the governess did not
look
like a monster. She was tall, thin, quiet, self-contained . She came from France and her name was
Mademoiselle
Lacroix
. Without Nanny’s warnings, Dorothea might easily have been taken in. As it was, she’d been on her guard for over a week since the Mam’zelle’s arrival, waiting for the moment when the monster would show her true colours. That moment had perhaps arrived at last.
    ‘Dorossea, I ask you a question.’
    Dorothea shook, her teeth chattered. ‘I’ve n—n—never had a governess.’
    ‘Then school. Have you not been to school?’
    ‘I went to the board school b-b-but only the b-boys did arithmetic .’
    ‘And the girls?’
    ‘S—sewing.’
    The monster smiled. ‘Sewing is a noble art. But we need do our sums too.’
    The smile, the gentle voice – such deception! Any moment now the governess would pounce.
    Day after day of waiting for the worst had taken its toll. Dorothea could stand it no longer. ‘I can’t do sums! I don’t want to do sums!’ She flung the book away from her. ‘I don’t understand, I don’t understand!’
    She stopped, appalled, her chest heaving. What had she done?
    Mlle Lacroix leaned forward. Dorothea cowered.
    ‘If you do not understand,’ the governess said in her strange sing-song way of speaking, ‘then we will start again from the beginning. But first—’ She reached out. Dorothea shied away, hunched up in her chair, but there was no escape. The governess caught hold of her hand across the table. ‘But first, Dorossea, tell me, why are you always so desolate? What