A Little Princess Finds Her Voice by Holly Webb

Author:Holly Webb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2018-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

After Sara had rescued them that morning, she seemed to feel responsible for distracting Lottie from the suffragettes. She invited her to tea almost every week, and she kept lending her books. Most of them were rather long and about history, which was Sara’s favorite subject. Lottie did not read them all, although she tried. She had her own tiny library in her room now, mostly books and pamphlets she had sent Sally to buy for her from the WSPU shop. They were hidden between the books Sara had lent her, so Miss Amelia wouldn’t see what they were.

Early in June, Miss Minchin called Lottie and Ermengarde to stay behind at the end of morning lessons. This usually meant whoever she wanted to talk to had done something wrong, but Lottie really couldn’t think of anything, for once. She and Ermengarde hadn’t been gossiping together. Even her composition had been remarkably free of blots and smears this morning. Ermie had been shamefully forgetful in the French lesson, but she usually was.

“I have had a note from Miss Crewe, inviting you both to spend the day with her this Saturday.” Miss Minchin’s lips were pursed, as though she were sucking on a lemon. “I feel it is most inappropriate of her to have asked you, as you will miss your morning’s work. But there we are.” She sniffed disapprovingly. “I suppose that you would like to go?”

“Yes, Miss Minchin,” Ermengarde said politely, and Lottie nodded. “Yes, please.”

“Very well. You may both write a polite note to her this afternoon, expressing your pleasure at the invitation.”

“Miss Minchin would be even more horrified if she knew where Mr. Carrisford was going to take us,” Ermengarde whispered to Lottie, as they left the schoolroom. “She told me about it yesterday when I went to tea.”

“Where?” Lottie demanded eagerly, pulling Ermengarde up the stairs and out of Miss Minchin’s earshot. “What are we going to do?”

“To the races, to watch the derby. I should think Miss Minchin would say racing is terribly vulgar, but it can’t be, since the king and queen will be there. It’s very dressy and sociable, Sara said.”

Lottie stared at her. “Really? We’re all to go?”

“Yes, and Mr. Carrisford told Sara he will hire a tall carriage, with space on the roof for us to sit and watch. And there will be a picnic with the most delicious things, and a supper too. We won’t get back to school until quite late.” Ermengarde sighed delightedly.

“Have you ever been to a horse race before?” Lottie asked curiously.

Ermengarde laughed. “No. It isn’t at all the sort of thing Papa or the aunts would take me to. Museums and picture galleries, that’s where they like to drag me. Oh, and events like the festival for the coronation, because of that awful historical pageant and all the interesting facts I could learn about the countries of the empire. A horse race is much more exciting. There’ll be crowds and crowds of people, and we will get to see all of it, Lottie.

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