A Bride for the Prizefighter - Alice Coldbreath Page 0,45

been on the occasion he had found out about her own juvenile scribblings. She had been reading a tale about the haunting of a highwayman by his murdered accomplice to their pupils during their Thursday afternoon sewing hour. Those stories had turned the outright pity in those girls’ eyes into admiration. ‘Oh miss, you’re an author, miss’. ‘It’s as good as anything in ‘Milady’s Fancy’, miss’. ‘You ought to send it in, miss, really you ought’.

Her father had warned her that the female brain was more delicate in its balance and should not be overset with unhealthy stimulus which could depress or send it feverish. Mina had pointed out that more than half the stories in the lady’s periodicals were written by women and her father had seemed to think that proved his point. Periodicals were a vastly inferior reading material and she should be cultivating her mind by devoting her studies to that of worthy books written by men.

Mina secure in her own excellent health, had privately disagreed. She knew that her own Papa was far more prone to stomach upset and colds than she. If her physical form was so robust, then why not her mind also? While it was true, that she had often lay shivering in her bed as a tree branch tapped her window, imagining untold horrors, it was also true that the same frisson of fear held a lot of enjoyment for a girl whose life otherwise was rather colorless. She enjoyed reading thrilling tales and she did not believe they were bad for her.

More importantly, Papa turned a blind eye to the fact his pupils purchased such materials, so why should he not allow his daughter a vicarious thrill or two also? Mama did not read at all, and yet Papa did not lecture her to self-improvement. He thought it charming that Mama fussed about with lace and needlepoint and took no interest in current affairs or politics. She, however, had been forced to abandon her tale of spectral highwaymen forthwith.

Turning over again, Mina acknowledged that fact still stung and forced herself once again, to contemplate Gus’s tale. Had he invented his on the spot to entertain her? It seemed unlikely he would go to so much trouble on her behalf. With a sigh, Mina clambered out of bed in search of her knitted bed-socks. Her feet were simply too cold tonight.

She rifled through her stockings in search of them and frowned when her questing fingers came up against something hard and round. Lifting out the object, Mina found it was her half-sovereign. She stared at it a moment in astonishment before thoughtfully replacing it. Then she found her rather lumpy blue bed socks and pulled them on over her bare feet. Straightening up, she found herself staring once more at the velvet curtains.

Snatching up her shawl, she threw it over her shoulders and inched towards the window. What o’clock was it? She thought she had heard the clock chime eleven. Opening the curtains by the tiniest amount, she gazed down at the yard below and was startled to see a tall shadowy figure below seemingly staring right back up at her window. With a gasp, Mina stepped back and then whirled around to jump straight into bed, her heart still thudding.

Her only comfort was that he had not been wearing a monk’s habit.

9

The next morning, she woke full of renewed vigor. The first thing she did, was check that she had not dreamed the coin in her stocking drawer. No, there it was, shiny as ever. He had not wrapped it back in her handkerchief but had simply tossed it back into her drawer. Her chest swelled indignantly. The man was a law unto himself! She would most certainly tackle him about it, she thought grimly as she made her way downstairs. When the moment was right.

She ate breakfast with Edna, with her hip propped against the kitchen table. She was not poised for flight she told herself. Indeed, she half wanted Nye to walk in on her this morning, but disappointingly, he did not appear even though she lingered long after her second cup of tea. Finally, she took herself off to the parlor room and settled to sew up the curtains for Edna’s room. She finished them at midday and took them up to place them folded on the bottom of Edna’s bed. While she was in there, she was gratified to see that another rail had been put up