No Wings to Fly by Jess Foley

Author:Jess Foley [Foley, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Sagas, Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2010-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

So, at last, after all this time he was coming back. He’d be leaving today. Another fortnight or so, and they would meet. She folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.

Having fetched up the hot water from the kitchen, Lily washed away the dust from the warm day and then changed into her second-best dress, the dark blue cotton, observing as she did so that it was showing its age. No matter, she had not the money at present for new clothes, and with her employment with the Acland children coming to an end, she must needs watch her spending. The little she had would not last for long.

When she was ready she went downstairs into the kitchen where Mrs Thorne had laid out the tea things.

‘Good news from your brother?’ Mrs Thorne asked as Lily came in.

‘Yes,’ Lily said. ‘He’s coming back to Wiltshire. He’s leaving London today. He should be here in a week.’

‘Oh, well, that’s very nice,’ Mrs Thorne said. She moved towards the range where the kettle was singing.

Lily watched the older woman as she busied herself, and in no time the tea was made. Mrs Thorne had also put out a plate of thinly-cut cheese sandwiches and another with a fruit cake that she had baked that day. Lily declined the cake, but gratefully took a sandwich. As she ate and drank she gave her landlady the news that her post at the Aclands’ was soon to come to an end, and that she must at once start to look for other employment. It would, she added, almost certainly mean that she would also have to give up her lodgings. Mrs Thorne sighed and said sadly, yes, she was aware of that, and added that she would be very sorry to see Lily go.

When Lily’s plate and cup were empty she thanked Mrs Thorne and got up to leave. She would see her tomorrow evening, she said, on her return from Sherrell.

Six minutes after reaching Little Patten station she was on the train and heading for Corster.

On her arrival she set off through the main part of the town towards its edge. Twenty minutes’ walk brought her to the river where she crossed at the narrow old bridge and, at the saddlery on the corner, turned into Brookham Way. There she saw ahead of her the two narrow houses, numbers one and two Merridew Villas, owned by Miss Elsie.

Regularly every fortnight, for well over two years now, Lily had been calling on the two elderly tenants of the dwellings, collecting the rent on Miss Elsie’s behalf. Miss Elsie, begrudging a rent-collector’s commission, had used to do it herself, but since Lily had offered to take over the task it had become an accepted responsibility.

She had come to know the tenants during her fortnightly visits, and it had become her custom to take tea with them, turn and turn about. This pattern was going to change, though, for soon one of the tenants, Mrs Callinthrop, would be going to live with her daughter in another part of the town.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.