Read Online Lakeland Lily by Freda Lightfoot - Free Book Online Page B

and the two young Heddington boys. Instead, she turned slightly in her chair so that Lily was not in view, was in fact slightly behind her, excluded from the ensuing conversation.
    This ranged from the Royal Family, especially dear Mary of Teck, to the latest exploits of Lord Lonsdale, known as the Yellow Earl. Then moved on to the likelihood of war.
    Margot declared her complete opposition to the very idea. ‘I cannot abide this alarmist view that our sitting rooms are about to be invaded by Russians or Germans. The country wastes near half our taxes on arming us to the teeth, yet who would dare start a war on England’s fair lawns?’
    ‘I believe they’d hope to fight it elsewhere, Mama. It might be quite a lark. We’d soon see them off.’
    ‘War is not a football match, Bertie,’ she snapped. Then more sweetly to her guests, ‘As my dear Edward often says, there is nothing to be gained by scaring peaceable folk in their beds. He is perfectly certain, and I agree, that there will be no war.’ She sipped delicately at her China tea, satisfied that no one, not even the British Government, would dare to disagree. An unhappy silence fell as everyone considered the consequences if she were wrong.
    ‘But I suppose we must be prepared,’ Edith Ferguson-Walsh ventured. ‘What if Armageddon should truly come?’
    Lily thought the poor woman might faint clean away, so venomous was her hostess’s answering glare. ‘What do you know of the matter, Edith?’
    ‘Why nothing, nothing at all,’ the poor lady hastily demurred, wishing she’d never opened her mouth, but being the kind of nervous individual who must always fill a vacuum with words, however ill conceived.
    ‘Are you saying that I, as a fond mama, should prepare to send my only son to the trenches?’
    ‘Indeed no, Margot.’
    ‘But you claim to be an expert on military matters. Is that the way of it?’
    Lily thought the hapless woman might burst into tears.
    ‘Dear me, no. Taking care of my darling Clive, and making sure Dora’s future is settled, takes up all of my time. I’m sure I wouldn’t dream…’ she wavered, fading into breathless silence, and shot a meaningful glance in Bertie’s direction. ‘Indeed. Marriage, dear Margot, is as you know my whole world.’
    ‘An admirable sentiment,’ Felicia’s mama fervently remarked,silently urging her own daughter to move closer to Bertie, who was unfortunately too busy gossiping with one of the Heddington twins to notice.
    ‘Of course,’ Margot put in, ‘no one should embark upon such a serious venture unless they have the funds to do so. To my mind marriage should be the sole prerogative of the better classes who know best how to conduct themselves.’
    Try as she might, Lily could not let this pass. ‘Are you saying that the poor should be made to live without the blessing of marriage?’
    Margot addressed her reply to the plaster frieze above her mantelpiece. ‘I believe it better for all concerned if the poor remain single.’
    ‘To provide an army of servants for the upper classes, I suppose?’
    ‘The dearth of good servants is a severe problem, it is true. Too many, I am forced to say, do not appreciate how fortunate they are to be taken into a good Christian home.’
    ‘Meaning we - the poor - have no feelings?’ Lily felt herself grow hot with agitation, even more so when Selene gave a chirrup of laughter.
    ‘For all you’ve suffered a grievous loss, Lily Thorpe, it hasn’t taken you long to begin enjoying life again, now has it?’
    Lily stared at her. ‘It’s taken two years,’ she protested. A lifetime wouldn’t be long enough. But she didn’t say as much. She had her pride.
    ‘What has taken two years?’ Bertie asked, puzzled. ‘What on earth are you all talking about?’
    ‘Do be quiet, Bertie. You weren’t there.’
    ‘Oh, you mean the accident? That’s ancient history.’
    ‘Certainly the less said about it, the better,’ was Margot’s tart reply, and she