Tomorrow's Treasure by Linda Lee Chaikin

Author:Linda Lee Chaikin [Chaikin, Linda Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-56460-3
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-07-27T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Rogan came home from school that summer, he did not mention Master Henry’s precious map to Evy again. She began to wonder if it really existed. Had it just been a tale to entertain her and Arcilla, while he hoped to make them afraid of a ghost?

She was relieved no one in the house had suspected them of snooping in Henry’s rooms. But one good thing came from it: The incident had triggered the start of Evy’s friendship with Arcilla. In the months following that day Arcilla regained her weight, and there was now color in her cheeks. On her fourteenth birthday she carried a gilded mirror with her, which she took out during teatime to study her reflection, quite pleased with what she saw.

“One more year and I shall go to school in France. I can hardly wait. And you?” She turned to Evy. “Will you attend the music school?”

Evy looked away. She knew she did not have adequate resources for such a thing, no matter how much she wanted it. Uncle Edmund’s death seemed to have closed so many desirable opportunities. “We must trust the Lord with our disappointments.”

Arcilla smiled. “Spoken like a true daughter of the vicarage.”

In spite of disappointments and uncertainties, Evy enjoyed living at Rookswood. On Sundays she and Aunt Grace would visit with Vicar Brown and Derwent, usually joining them for Sunday dinner. In the evenings Evy played the piano for them in the rectory parlor, then she and Derwent would walk in the garden and talk about his future. Soon now, he would be attending divinity school in London.

Aunt Grace naturally believed Evy’s music would be a help to her as a vicar’s wife. It would work well in the church services, and she could always bring a little extra money into the family by becoming a music teacher like Mrs. Tisdale, but Evy prayed for more than that. She wanted to become proficient, to study with the masters.

But how to manage those expensive years of study?

Evy’s favorite times of the year were summer and Christmas holidays, for that was when Rogan and Parnell came home. Not that they noticed her, of course. On his first visit home from school Rogan had ignored her. It had hurt, but she told herself it was to be expected. He was there only two weeks before leaving again. She found out later from Arcilla that he had taken his horse to Heathfriar estate, the Bancrofts’ home. It seemed that Lord Bancroft’s daughter, Miss Patricia, was an avid horsewoman.

No wonder she appealed to Rogan.

Even so, everyday events were pleasant enough, and as time rolled by, Evy all but forgot the strange tales of Henry Chantry’s murder, the Kimberly Black Diamond, and the gossip surrounding Lady Camilla and her husband Anthony Brewster. Even Lizzie seemed to have forgotten and turned her attention on Arcilla’s comings and goings, as the girl was growing up fast.

Lady Elosia Chantry, Sir Lyle’s eldest sister, had arrived the year before to

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