Read Online The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper - Free Book Online

She had a responsibility to her husband, to her new country, not to look back. It was what her parents would have expected of her. It was the Sensible Thing to Do.
    My aunt is extremely Sensible.
    Anyway. Henry came down to breakfast that morning dressed in her new riding jacket and jodhpurs, trailed by her governess, Miss Thompson. I’ve never seen anyone wear so much pink at once; she’d even pinned a pink silk rose to her lapel, and every time Toby glanced in her general direction, her whole head blushed to match. Aunt Charlotte had apparently chosen the most girlish governess available, in the hope that all the pinkness would rub off on Henry.
    “Did I say she’d last three weeks?” Toby muttered. “I meant three days. ”
    To make up for this, I gave her an especially encouraging smile, but I don’t think she noticed—she was too busy being terrified of Aunt Charlotte.
    Simon wasn’t at breakfast, but he joined Veronica, Toby, and me in the library before luncheon. While Veronica and Toby grappled with Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , Simon sat beside me on the window seat and told me all about Rebecca’s introduction to the clinic, which hadn’t been entirely smooth.
    “Still, the therapists are very experienced,” he said, a little line appearing between his brows. “And she has a lovely bedroom, with a view of the sea. I think that will help, don’t you?”
    Just as I succeed in hardening my heart towards Simon, he reveals something of himself that makes me adore him. To care so deeply about Rebecca—a most unlovable person—is surely the mark of a kind soul, even if Simon does his best to disguise it. I was agreeing that sea views were extremely soothing when Henry burst into the room.
    “What are you all doing in here? Talking , I suppose!”
    “How was your first riding lesson?” Toby asked.
    “Well! You won’t believe it!” exclaimed Henry. “I had to put both my legs on one side , in this silly girls’ saddle! I thought it would be like pictures of cowboys, a leg on either side of the horse. How else is one supposed to stay on? But Aunt Charlotte says that only boys get to ride like that! It’s the stupidest thing! It ought to be the other way round. It’s boys who have dangling bits between their legs —they ought to be the ones riding sidesaddle!”
    “Quite right,” said Toby. “Especially if they have really large bits. The first time I got off a horse, I couldn’t walk properly for hours afterwards.”
    Simon was suddenly overcome by a severe coughing fit and had to leave the room in search of a glass of water.
    “ Please tell me you didn’t say that in front of Aunt Charlotte,” I begged Henry.
    “Why?” she asked.
    “Because it isn’t very ladylike,” said Veronica, straightening her face. “Nor gentlemanly. Come here, you’ve got mud all over you.”
    “I fell off twice,” said Henry proudly as Veronica helped her out of her filthy riding jacket. “That was mostly the saddle’s fault, though. I do love my pony. He’s called Lightning. Isn’t that a good name? And the groom is called Ericson, and he’s going to see if he can find a proper saddle for me tomorrow.”
    “Where’s Miss Thompson?” I asked.
    “Lying down in her room,” said Henry. “She got dizzy when I fell off the first time. You’d think it was her who’d fallen on her head. Then she had a screaming fit because Carlos jumped up on her. He only wanted to see what was on her hat, and do you know what it was? Pink rabbit fur! No wonder he was confused.”
    “Did I say three days?” Toby murmured to me. “I meant three hours .”
    “Anyway,” said Henry, “have you come up with a plan yet? For getting Montmaray back from the Nasties?”
    “Nazis,” I corrected.
    Veronica got up and walked out.
    “Why does she always do that?” said Henry, her face falling. “Whenever anyone mentions Montmaray—”
    “Never mind, Horrid Hen,” said Toby quickly.