Felicity - Stands By by Richmal Crompton

Author:Richmal Crompton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2017-04-20T04:30:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Felicity Comes to Town

“Marcia wants me to go and stay with her in town,’ said Felicity, waving a letter in the air.

“We must bear in mind, Felicity,” said Lady Montague firmly, “that you are yet in the schoolroom.”

Felicity stopped waving the letter.

“I’m sixteen,” she said with dignity.

“The fact remains,” said Felicity’s aunt crushingly, “that you have not yet come out.”

“I know,” said Felicity, swinging herself up lightly upon the table, “but nowadays it doesn’t matter. I mean nowadays you don’t come out with a bang like you used to. You unfold gradually like a flower. It’s much more poetical. I read somewhere the other day that nowadays girls begin to go out to dinner when they’re fifteen, and when they’re sixteen they begin to go to dances and night clubs and drink cocktails, and when they’re seventeen they do all those things till they’re simply sick of them, and when they’re eighteen someone gives a dance to mark the fact that life has no further experiences to offer them.”

“Felicity,” said Lady Montague, “I can hardly believe my ears. You should not know the meaning of such a word as cocktail!”

“Oh, but don’t you think I should, aunt?” said Felicity earnestly. “I mean, how can I spurn it with lofty scorn when someone offers it to me if I don’t know the difference between it and lemonade. I know a cocktail quite well. It has a little stick in it with a cherry on the end.”

“I am glad to say,” said Lady Montague, with dignity, “that—er—the beverage we are discussing has never passed my lips.”

Felicity tossed her red-gold head.

“It hasn’t mine either, aunt,” she said, and added hopefully—“yet.”

Marcia was Felicity’s married sister. Every August Felicity went away to the seaside with Marcia and her family because August was the Parliamentary vacation, and Matthew, Marcia’s husband, who was a Cabinet Minister, and a very important personage, sent his secretary away for his holiday then, and played at being a private individual. This year, however, he had to stay in town to attend some important meetings, so his family arranged to stay with him. Marcia thought it would be a nice change for Felicity to stay with them in town. So did Felicity. Lady Montague, however, was not quite so sure. She disapproved of any excitement for Felicity, and she disapproved of London.

“I’ll speak to your grandfather about the invitation, Felicity,” she said, “and we will abide by his decision.”

She found Sir Digby Harborough in a very bad mood indeed. Lady Montague always bowed before Sir Digby’s storms like a willow in the wind.

“If the child wants to go, let her go,” roared Sir Digby, “let her go—let her go!”

“Certainly,” said Lady Montague hastily. “I was not purposing to put any obstacle in the way. Only she is young and headstrong and—–”

“Let her go!” roared Sir Digby, suddenly turning purple in the face.

“Exactly what I was suggesting,” said Lady Montague, retiring as precipitately as was compatible with her dignity.

The muffled sounds of Sir Digby’s growling pursued her down the corridors.

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.