All is Fair in Love by Sasha Cottman

Author:Sasha Cottman [cottman, sasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cottman Data Services Pty Ltd

Chapter Twenty-Four

Following his visit to the Empress Catherine, Francis did his utmost best to avoid Poppy. With Charles and Adelaide shortly heading off to Scotland for Christmas, he had more than enough to concentrate his mind on.

But try as he might, as soon as he stepped down from his carriage at the docks each morning, he found himself looking for her. His routine was thus—a quick glance toward the door of number fourteen. Then a slow search of the wharf embankment, and finally, a check of the deck of Poppy’s ship, all in the secret hope of catching a glimpse of her.

He shouldn’t look for Poppy. Shouldn’t be the least interested in what she was doing. But every time his efforts didn’t result in a Poppy sighting, the same dull pain of disappointment settled heavily in his gut.

The complicated ledgers and shipping records no longer held the same fascination as they usually did. Francis worked late into the night adding and tallying figures, all in the vain hope that they would somehow concentrate his mind.

“That’s it. I am done for the day.” With a sigh, he closed up the books of account and leaned back in his chair. He had caught three of his own errors in the past hour but suspected he had made more. Tomorrow, he would need to go back over the figures and correct his own work.

After wiping the ink from the end of his pen, he set the instrument back into its box. It took several attempts to put the lid back on the ink pot. These were simple tasks that Francis had done every day since coming to work with his father, yet now, they seemed to pose him a problem. His fingers wouldn’t work in concert with his mind.

“I am hungry—that is the only cause of my muddled head. My stomach is too busy making demands for my brain to function properly.”

It was well past nine o’clock, and he was the only person left in the company warehouse. The last of the clerks had packed up and gone home several hours ago.

If he’d had any sense, he would have done the same. Instead, he had wasted the best part of the evening trying to get sales figures to reconcile to his cash balance. They hadn’t matched up.

Rising from his desk, Francis collected his coat and some papers. Hopefully his head would clear after having taken some supper at home, and then he could work on the balance again.

Time is money. You don’t have enough of either.

Charles had taken the Saunders family carriage home earlier in the evening with the offer to send it back to collect Francis, but Francis had politely declined. The nearby Ratcliffe Highway was a busy thoroughfare, so flagging down a hack at this time of the night was never a problem.

Francis undertook his usual tour of the office, making sure that all the candles and lamps had been properly extinguished. He stopped by his desk on the way out and turned down his desk lamp.

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