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it's your obligation to endure it with us."
Merripen reached for another handful of nails. "That was a good try," he said. "But I'm not going."
The primitive plumbing at Ramsay House, its poor lighting, and the dinginess of the few available looking
glasses made it difficult to prepare for the visit to Stony Cross Manor. After laboriously heating water in
the kitchen, the Hathaways hauled buckets up and down the stairs for their own baths. Everyone except
Win, of course, who was resting in her room to preserve her strength.
Amelia sat with unusual submissiveness as Poppy styled her hair, pulling it back, making thick braids and
pinning them into a heavy chignon that covered the back of her head. "There," Poppy said with pleasure.
"At least you're fashionable from the ears upward."
Like the other Hathaway sisters, Amelia was dressed in a serviceable bombazine gown of twilled blue
silk and
worsted. Its design was plain with a moderately full skirt, the sleeves long and tightly fitted.
Poppy's gown was a similar style, only in red. She was an uncommonly pretty girl, her fine features lit
with vivacity and intelligence. If a girl's social popularity were based on merit rather than fortune, Poppy
would have been the toast ofLondon . Instead she was living in the country in a rattletrap house, wearing
old clothes, hauling water and coal like a maidservant. And she had never once complained.
"We'll have some new dresses made very soon," Amelia said earnestly, feeling her heart twist with
remorse. "Things will improve, Poppy. I promise."
"I hope so," her sister said lightly. "I'll need a ball gown if I'm to catch a rich benefactor for the family."
"You know I only said that in jest. You don't have to look for a rich suitor. Only one who will be kind to
you." Poppy grinned. "Well, we can hope that wealth and kindness are not mutually exclusive... can't
we?" Amelia smiled back at her. "Indeed." As the siblings assembled in the entrance hall, Amelia felt even
more remorseful as she saw Beatrix turned out in a green dress with ankle-length skirts and a starched
white pinafore, an ensemble far more appropriate for a girl of twelve instead of fifteen.
Making her way to Leo's side, Amelia muttered to him, "No more gambling, Leo. The money you lost at
Jenner's would have been far better spent on proper clothes for your younger sisters."
"There is more than enough money for you to have taken them to the dressmaker," Leo said coolly.
"Don't make me the villain when it's your responsibility to clothe them."
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Amelia gritted her teeth. As much as she adored Leo, no one could make her as angry as he, and so
quickly. She longed to administer some heavy clout on the head that might restore his wits. "At the rate
you've been going through the family coffers, I didn't think it would be wise of me to go on a spending
spree."
The other Hathaways watched, wide-eyed, as the conversation exploded into a full-on argument.
"You may choose to live like a miser," Leo said, "but I'll be damned if I have to. You're incapable of
enjoying the moment because you're always intent on tomorrow. Well, for some people, tomorrow never
comes."
Her temper flared. "Someone has to think of tomorrow, you selfish spendthrift!"
"Coming from an overbearing shrew "
Win stepped between them, resting a gentle hand on Amelia's shoulder. "Hush, both of you. It serves no
purpose to make yourselves cross just before we are to leave.'" She gave Amelia a sweet quirk of a
smile that no one on earth could have resisted. "Don't frown like that, dear. What if your face stayed that
way?"
"With prolonged exposure to Leo," Amelia replied, "it undoubtedly would,"
Her brother snorted. "I'm a convenient scapegoat, aren't I? If you were honest with yourself, Amelia "
"Merripen," Win called out, "is the carriage ready now?"
Merripen came through the front door, looking rumpled and surly. It had been agreed that he would
drive the Hathaways to the Westcbffs' residence and return for them later. "It's ready." As he glanced at
Win's pale golden beauty, it seemed his expression turned even surlier, if such a thing were possible. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]