The Collective by Lindsey Whitlock

Author:Lindsey Whitlock [Lindsey Whitlock]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782692164
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 2019-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

A Familiar Face

IT WAS MORNING before Elwyn returned to the Blackwell house. Rhoad wanted to hear the specifics of Elwyn’s campaign ideas. He was a man dissatisfied with generalities; ideas should be clear, strong and stand on their own feet. After that, tireless Rhoad wanted to negotiate the terms of Elwyn’s employment – his title, hours and wages. By the time they finished, it was nearly two in the morning, and a place was made for Elwyn in a guest suite.

Though it was late, Elwyn was not tired. He wasn’t hungry either. He lay in bed and felt the oxygen moving through his veins. He felt the sparks of connections in his mind; he felt pride. Elwyn felt fully alive in a way he hadn’t for a very long time.

The guest room was unlike any Elwyn had ever entered, but it felt familiar to him. It was a place that had lived in his imagination for years: the sprung mattress, deep silk sheets, crystal lamps, gilded wallpaper. Somehow it was all even brighter than the picture he had held in his mind, and he was comfortable there. Happy.

When Elwyn finally fell asleep, it was in a state so exhilarated that when he woke a few hours later, he was completely refreshed. Rhoad was working, but coffee and buttered white-flour rolls had been ordered for him and set on a tray beside his door. The taste was still in Elwyn’s mouth as he walked down the hostile streets. But none of the looks or words shot at him touched Elwyn at all. They rolled off his back like rain off a goose.

‘Uncle Timothy?’ Elwyn shouted when he entered the Blackwells’ house, not minding the rule against shouting. It was breakfast hour. Elwyn burst into the room, bright and breathless.

‘You’re late,’ Timothy said, not looking up.

‘I spent the night at the Rhoads’,’ Elwyn said, his pleasure doubling at the looks his aunt, uncle and cousin wore when they looked up at him. ‘I’ll be working there now. Earning money. I’ll be able to stay somewhere I won’t – what is it you said? – open you up to scrutiny.’

‘Elwyn, last night I may have been too hasty. There are perhaps other publishers to whom I can present my project. To align yourself with someone like Rhoad…’ For the first time, Timothy did not speak easily and abundantly. There were no little lessons tagged onto his words.

‘I’m going to some boarding houses this morning. Some won’t want to admit a Forester, but Rhoad has given me a note promising that I’m good for the money. I only stopped in to let you know.’ Elwyn felt radiant as he spoke. He had possibilities open to him that no one else could have planned for him, no one else would have thought possible.

‘So that’s it? You will so easily abandon your lessons? Abandon the future you vowed your devotion to?’ Timothy said, flaring with the same anger Elwyn had seen the day before.

Boaz seemed

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.