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I blinked in confusion. ‘Him? Him who?’
‘You know perfectly well who I mean! You went to see him! The young man you have been seeing.’
‘Oh, him!’ Right! I had given Ella some vague hints about Mr Ambrose hadn’t I? She thought he was an admirer of mine. Sometimes it was really hard to keep track of one’s own lies and fibs.
‘Don’t try to deny it,’ Ella told me, looking up at me with those big, blue, sincere eyes of hers. ‘You went to see him, and he… and he… oh Lilly!’
Suddenly, her arms were around me and she was crushing me to her with all the force she was capable of. Luckily, she was no Patsy.
‘I can’t bear it any longer! Please! Simply tell me, Lill! You have to tell me! I won’t judge you, I promise! I know you would never, before marriage… Not willingly! Just, please! Please tell me! I mean… he… you… did he… did you… did the two of you…?’
My eyes went wide. Abruptly, it began to dawn on the excuse for a mind stuffed into my aching head what exactly Ella was talking about.
‘No! No, no, nonononono! No, not ever! Never! Not in this lifetime or a thousand others, or if I were a bee and he a spring flower full of yummy pollen! No, no, nonononono No!’
I shook my head so vigorously my brown hair bounced around like chocolate come to life, and I was in danger of head-butting Ella. I didn’t care! The idea of Mr Ambrose and me… doing that - well, it was too horrible to think about!
Really? Are you sure about that? asked a little voice at the back of my mind.
I told it to shut up.
Ella pushed me away a few inches, just enough to be able to look me in the face. Hers was shimmering with tears.
‘Really? Are you sure?’
She sounded eerily like that little voice in my head.
‘I think I would have noticed, Ella. I wasn’t that drunk.’
‘Oh. Um… well, good.’
We stood there for a few moments, not knowing what to say - then Ella suddenly pulled me against her and started sobbing again.
‘Hey! I told you! My virtue is safely under lock and key!’
‘I know!’ Ella wailed. ‘I’m crying from relief!’
‘Oh. You could have fooled me.’
‘Shut up!’
‘If you insist.’
‘Never do anything like that to me again!’
‘All right. Next time I get drunk I’ll be sure to be much more promiscuous.’
‘Oh Lill! Shut up!’
I could count the number of times my little sister had told me to shut up during my lifetime on the fingers of one hand. Anne and Maria were doing it constantly, but Ella? If she was being bossy, I really must have upset her. Tentatively, I put my arms around her and pulled her close.
‘What did he do to you?’ She sobbed.
‘I told you. Nothing,’ I soothed, patting her head.
‘I don’t mean that! I mean what else happened to you? What about the drink? What did that vile man make you consume?’
‘Ella, it’s not like that. He didn’t make me, I…’
