Read Online Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell - Free Book Online Page B

asking me to banish the child for breaking a plate?”
    â€œNo, Charles; it’s what the plate stands for. If you’d seen the way she threw it at me; it was the act of a savage. She’s becoming vindictive, my darling. Her father’s death has warped her; she’s barely human—she’s running wild—and wild animals turn vicious. It has to be her or me, Charles.”
    â€œCynthia. Please don’t threaten me. You are my wife, are you not?” The captain blinked his old eyes, bewildered.
    â€œI am, Charles. And I need you to treat me as a wife should be treated.”
    â€œCynthia! Will is the dearest thing in my life”—he saw Cynthia open her mouth—“after you. But she is also a child, which you are not. She needs our protection.”
    â€œ No , Charles. She needs a new start.”
    â€œCynthia! This is ridiculous! I will not have it. I willunbook the tickets myself. We will not discuss it any further, please.”
    â€œVery well.” Cynthia strode to the door and slammed it shut behind her. A painting fell off the wall. In the fields, a dog started howling. Captain Browne was just getting to his feet to follow her when she slammed in again, carrying a leather suitcase. She dropped it on his lap.
    â€œCharles. I’m serious about this.”
    â€œWhat is this, Cynthia?”
    â€œGo on. Take a look, darling .”
    The captain opened the case with quivering fingers. Inside was a pile of neatly folded silk shirts, a mound of lace underwear, and three smart cotton dresses. Under the dresses were two pairs of shoes: one red crocodile skin and one black with silver stiletto heels.
    â€œCynthia . . . what is this? I don’t understand.”
    â€œThis is my going-away bag, Charles. I do not make idle threats. It’s your choice. I will leave this farm tonight if you continue to be so ridiculously sentimental about that child.”
    â€œCynthia! Please. Please don’t do this to me.”
    â€œSo you agree with me? About Will?”
    The captain said nothing.
    â€œJust nod, Charles. Just nod, and I’ll put away the bag forever.”
    Very slowly—at the pace of ancient turtles and sunsets—Captain Browne nodded.
    â€œOh, Charlie !” Cynthia bared her teeth in a smile. She had to fight to hide her triumph. “Oh, don’t look so glum, my darling man! It needn’t be forever. A year or two in civilized company, and she’ll be a whole new little girl. The little Will you used to know. I’ve received the prospectus from the school. It’s actually rather famous, amongst the right sort of person—very safe, very pretty. They had an opening for just one more pupil; little Will’s an extremely lucky girl. I’ve already replied.” The soft silkiness of female threat came into her voice. “I knew you would approve in the end, Charles. You do approve, don’t you?”
    Captain Browne set his mouth in a line.
    â€œOh, Charlie. You do still love me, don’t you?”
    Captain Browne nodded. He tried to smile. His breathing was very slow. His Will! His promise! But. His wife. His Will had attacked his wife. Life was too difficult. He stared out the window, but his beloved trees were just a smear of green. He was getting old, and his eyes were blurred with the first tears since boyhood.

T HE NEXT DAY THE RAINS began. At breakfast the air was a solid sheet of water; by the afternoon the fields were calf-deep in mud. Cynthia would not risk her shoes in the downpour, and instead sent out Lazarus to summon Will. She was to go, he reported, at once, to the withdrawing room.
    â€œThe what ?” Will dropped down from her tree, shaking the water out of her eyes. “We don’t have a withdrawing room.”
    â€œShe means your rumpus room, Wheel.” And Lazarus flicked his fingers by his head to indicate madness. “That woman’s bad all through. You be