Rack & Ruin by Carol Hedges

Author:Carol Hedges
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Little G Books
Published: 2016-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

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By no stretch of the imagination is the engineer a man who gets lucky breaks dropped into his lap. Yet here he is, in the very house inhabited by his beloved Angel. Since the revelation of her presence, he has taken to watching the coming and goings of the Lawton family from his window. He now knows that her name is Daisy, and that she laughs like a tinkling bell.

Sometimes when the nurse is off duty, the engineer walks stiff legged to the door. He opens it, and stands on the landing clutching the bannister rail giddily. From there he can hear the distant sounds of the family taking their meals, or the pretty rippling piano music, or the servants coming and going, and answering the door.

Recently he has noticed them opening the door with increasing regularity to an elegantly dressed young man, sometimes accompanied by a rather untidy young woman with a loud voice and a horsy laugh. He has seen his beloved Angel walking down the road with the man, her hand laid lightly upon his arm.

Every time he thinks of this, the engineer feels a fear rise in him, physical as vomit. He sits in the chair, scoured out, empty. Of late, his dreams have become more vivid and even more terrifying.

He cries out, clawing the bedclothes until the nurse wakes him, gives him more of the soothing drugs. In one of these wakings, he is sure he has seen Lawton standing by his bedside, his expression grave.

The engineer hears the sound of horse and carriage. He heaves himself upright and hurries to the window. He sees the family carriage standing in the street below, the footman helping down a thin pale-faced young woman dressed in deep mourning.

It is not the young man. His relief is almost palpable. He walks to the desk that has been provided for him, and takes out a sheet of paper from the folder that has been brought over from his previous lodgings along with the rest of his possessions.

He is working secretly on a drawing of his Angel, constructing her features with the precision and accuracy that he brings to all his work. Today, he will draw her rippling hair. He lays out pencils, eraser, ink bottle and pen. When he has finished the drawing, he will return to work. But he will take her with him into the uncertain future.

Meanwhile downstairs in the parlour Daisy and Letitia sit side by side on the striped Regency sofa. Daisy leans forward and pats Letitia’s arm affectionately.

“How pale you look, Tishy dear. Are things still as bad for you?”

“They are certainly not improving.”

“And that horrid woman?”

“Is still as horrid. But I have my own front door key, so she cannot stop me from leaving the house. And it is my intention to leave for good, one day.”

Daisy’s eyes widen.

“You have a secret admirer? Oh, do tell.”

Letitia laughs.

“No, nothing as grand. But I hope to take an important exam at the end of the year which will allow me eventually to earn my own living.

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