Miss Matilda Hayward and the Freak Show (Miss Matilda Hayward series Book 1) by Helen Goltz

Author:Helen Goltz [Goltz, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlas Productions
Published: 2021-08-02T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

‘This is my home, or rather my father’s,’ Matilda said as they arrived outside the gates of a palatial home on the rise of the Kangaroo Point hill. The autumn evening was closing in and the street was in shadowy darkness now with only the lamps shining from inside the windows of Matilda’s home to guide the way up the path.

‘May I offer you a cup of tea before you depart?’ She hoped her new friend would not accept; she felt raw and emotional and needed to get herself together, but yet manners dictated she issued the invitation.

‘Thank you, but I’m not appropriately dressed for calling. Should you wish to return to the Exhibition, I am there most days except Sunday, so please seek me out if I can be of service,’ Teddy said.

‘I can’t thank you enough, Mr Clements,’ Matilda said.

She entered the gate, closing it behind her, and was relieved to be in the safety of her residence. She was conscious that he was gallantly ensuring she safely reached her front door, so she increased the pace of her walk up the path and took the few stairs to the front door, turned and smiled before disappearing within.

‘Oh good,’ Harriet said, bustling out to assist with taking Matilda’s hat and gloves. The familiar sight of her in a dark grey gown with lace collar, hair neatly back in a bun, caused a wave of emotion in Matilda. ‘It is getting dark, and I like you home well before the evening crowds venture out.’

‘Thank you, Harriet,’ Matilda said. ‘I am rather exhausted, though. I think I will just lie down for a while. If I’m awake, I’ll join Pa for dinner, but otherwise please give my apologies.’

She felt Harriet’s eyes upon her and hurriedly made her way up the stairs, supporting herself on the banister. Once inside, she lowered herself onto her bed. Then she turned and cried miserably into her pillow, ashamed of her weakness. But in those moments when the breath was being withheld from her throat, as Tufton glared and sneered at her, she’d thought of her family; fleeting thoughts that she might never see her pa again and the grief it would cause him to have her body returned to the home, lifeless. The faces of her brothers, and Harriet and Cook, and Minnie, all the people in her life that she might never see again, appeared in her mind. It terrified her. She thought of Thomas and how disappointed he would be in her being there without protection.

Yes, she was strong and independent, but the man’s world she had grown up in had been a kind one, civilised and protective. She was encouraged to be free thinking and to have an opinion and even to write and support that independence. Mr Tufton’s attack had frightened her to the core.

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