AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Tired of being asked this question, Harriet thought but did not say. Her friends were wonderful. She was grateful for their support. But she really wanted to take all her roiling, untidy emotions, package them up, tie the container with a stout rope, and chuck it down a well.
“You went walking alone again?” asked Charlotte.
“Yes. I like walking alone.”
“Really? I didn’t know you had hermitish tendencies. How could I have missed that in all these years?”
“Very funny,” said Harriet.
“Walking in a forest alone can be quite restorative,” said Sarah.
“Are you restored?” Charlotte asked Harriet. “You don’t look it.”
“I am…invigorated. I saw a fox near the Travelers camp.” Sarah could often be diverted by mentions of wildlife.
Not this time, however. “I thought you said your grandfather had posted men to keep us away from there,” Sarah replied. She had wanted to visit the group.
“Yes, but…”
“You know how to slip past them,” said Charlotte.
Harriet had to admit it.
“So we can go and see them,” said Sarah.
“Yes. All right. We will.”
“When?”
A muted roar came through the window of Harriet’s grandfather’s study, followed by the rise and fall of one of his temper tantrums. They couldn’t hear the details, but the outrage was familiar.
“What about now?” suggested Charlotte.
“Good idea,” said Sarah.
Harriet’s mother emerged from a side door like a cork popping from a champagne bottle. Seeing them, she rushed over. “Fresh air,” she said breathlessly. “Join you for a turn about the garden.” Grasping Harriet’s arm, she urged her toward the shelter of the shrubbery.
“We’re going to visit the Travelers’ camp,” said Sarah with the air of one offering a treat.
This was a problem, after all her grandfather’s railing. Harriet waited for a flurry of fears and objections. But her mother merely nodded and walked faster. “I will come with you,” she said.
“You will?” Where were the warnings, the anxieties? Harriet wondered.
“They seemed…interesting,” was the surprising reply. “Lord Ferrington likes them.”
Harriet stared at her as they passed into the shrubbery and out of sight of the house. “How do you know that?”
“Oh, well. I met him there the other day.”
“You did?” Her mother had said nothing of this.
“We had a lovely chat. He is such a kind gentleman, isn’t he?”
“What did you chat about?” asked Charlotte, relieving Harriet of the necessity.
“This and that.” Harriet’s mother made an airy gesture. “My embroidery.”
“Your…” Harriet tried to picture it.
