The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp by Sarra Manning

Author:Sarra Manning [Sarra Manning]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-07-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

It seemed to Amelia that it took no time at all her for entire life to be dismantled.

All their property was sold, for a lot less than market value, according to Mummy, with the house in Kensington the last asset to go. Two quite terrifying men from the Official Receiver’s office, not much older than Amelia, had supervised as the Sedleys had chosen what they wanted to keep from a meagre selection of their former possessions before everything else was sold at auction. The paintings, the jewellery, the beautiful hand-painted bedroom set Amelia had been given for her fifteenth birthday, which had always made her feel like a princess. Even Pianoforte had been put up for sale.

It was ghastly.

The papers had gleefully picked over all their things and though Amelia had kept away from the auction – everyone from the lawyers to dear old Dobbin had said that it was pointless to put herself through such a horrid ordeal – Mrs Blenkinsop had gone and had come back practically bursting with news and a face full of smiles. Which was odd because Mrs Blenkinsop had been quite bitter ever since Daddy had had to let her go. She’d also been furious when the forensic accountants had queried why a monthly Ocado delivery was being made to an address in Leytonstone where Mrs Blenkinsop’s sister lived.

‘The Royal Doulton dinner service went to a cruel-looking lottery winner. He’s been in all the papers,’ she reported when Amelia met her for coffee in a Starbucks around the corner from the auction house. ‘He also bought all your mother’s furs.’

‘The good thing is that no one really needs to wear fur,’ Amelia pointed out because she was trying so hard to find some good in this far-from-good, left-good-several-months-ago-with-no-hope-of-returning situation. ‘What with global warming.’ She peered at Mrs Blenkinsop. ‘You know, those look a lot like the earrings Daddy got Mummy for her fortieth birthday.’

‘Do they?’ Mrs Blenkinsop touched the three strings of what looked like diamonds dangling from her left ear. ‘They’re from Elizabeth Duke at Argos. I couldn’t afford your mother’s jewellery. Despite what the accountant said. Implying that I’d been skimming off the housekeeping for years. The cheek!’

‘Of course, of course,’ Amelia said quickly, because it was so nice to have someone to sit and drink coffee with, even if it were Mrs Blenkinsop. All her other friends had dropped her like she was made of radioactive waste. Some of her former Big Brother housemates had given interviews to the papers where they’d said some very unkind, very untrue things about her and when Amelia had tried to defend herself on Twitter, it had all got rather ugly. Then it had transpired that Durham University had some of its pension fund invested with Sedley’s Bank, so it was suggested in the strongest possible terms that she didn’t return, even though she was due to sit her finals in a few weeks.

And George? Amelia hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him, though it wasn’t his fault.

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