Sophie's Exile by Beverley Boissery

Author:Beverley Boissery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000, JUV016000, JUV016170
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2008-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Sophie and Polly stood in the doorway, in their identical dresses, a picture of solidarity. During the time they’d spent pulling fish traps out of the water and scrabbling around in mud for crabs, they’d become firm friends. They laughed as they walked into the room.

Cousin Mary had made an appearance, Sophie noted. She sat in a corner of the room, her sewing on her lap, and looked as though she’d burst into laughter at any moment. Sophie couldn’t figure out what exactly amused her so much. The identical dresses weren’t that funny.

From that moment, though, it seemed that they split into pairs. Billy and Luc talked incessantly, telling each other tall stories, Sophie and Polly were still in the intense getting to know each other phase of friendship, and Lady Peter and Lady Theo seemed happy to have another woman to talk to. Cousin Mary, the outsider by her own choice, watched their comings and goings with her strange smile, but disappeared to her room whenever Lord Peter visited.

As Billy still couldn’t walk — not even with his new crutches — he and Luc stayed in Abbotsford. The other four divided their time between their two homes. “I’ve never had a friend that I could talk to as easily as I do with Polly,” Sophie told Lady Theo one afternoon when John Coachman was driving them to Double Bay. “It’s different from you and Luc. Even from Papa. I tell Polly silly things that I know you wouldn’t be interested in. I tell her about the horrible girls at my school in England, and she tells me about some of her friends here. You know, Cousin Mary figured them out almost immediately: they do judge people by their clothes. Polly says sometimes she deliberately wears her old clothes to confuse them. I think it’s silly to judge people by what they wear, don’t you?”

“Of course, I do. You have to learn though, child, that clothes can also be a weapon.” Lady Theo smiled at Sophie. After a sharp smell permeated the carriage, she sniffed and hurriedly closed the windows. “I don’t know when I’ll get used to the smell of cattle markets. I know we have to pass them when we go through Sydney, but goodness knows, I wish there was some other route we could take.”

Sophie put her handkerchief over her nose. “I don’t know whether it’s better to choke or put up with the smell.”

They sat silently while John negotiated their way through the quieter and less-smelly New South Head Road. With a sigh of relief, Lady Theo rolled down the window again. “I do know what you mean about having a friend you can talk to, Sophie. I’m so glad I met Christina. I don’t feel quite so alone anymore.”

“You’re not alone,” Sophie argued. “You have me. And Papa.”

“Papa can’t tell me which women to avoid, which ones gossip, which ones are malicious. Besides, as you said yourself, there are some things you can talk about with a good friend that you can’t with family.

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.