An Indelicate Situation (The Weymouth Trilogy) Read Online Free Page B

ship . William had moved across to join them. Old Mrs Sta veley was sitting with Mrs John, whom she had just now employed in holding a skein of wool between her hands in order that she could wind it more readily into a ball. Mrs Staveley was dressed, as she always was , in a neat jet black silk gown an d a neat , snow white lace cap. It seem ed that s he was having some difficulty in retaining her hold on the ball – she did suffer from arthritis, after all - and just as Maggie was watching her she ma naged to drop it from her fingers and see it swiftly unravel itself as it made its bid for freedom under the chair that Maggie herself was sitting on.
    ‘Would you like me to do some winding for you, Mrs Staveley?’ she asked, retrieving the offending wool deftly from beneath her skirt.
    Mrs Staveley turned her bright eyes upon her for a second, and nodded. Maggie rose and went to kneel on the floor in front of Mrs John, who still held the skein in her hands.
    ‘Such a mistake to have made , you know, Miss Owens,’ whispered the old lady, bending towards her from the comfort of her chair next to them. ‘ I had thought it a good idea. It suited us all at the time , you know. But now I can see that it was not a good idea. I rue the day, Miss Owens, I really do rue the day .’
    Maggie, de ciding that this was a somewhat singular remark to make about a simple decision to wind some wool at a family party, thought that it might be politic to ignore what Mrs Staveley had just whispered to her . S o she pretended that she hadn ’ t heard her, cast a vague but reassuring smile in her direction, and set to work on the winding with a good deal of vigour. And, indeed, she found that it was not at all difficult to ignore the old lady, for no sooner had she positioned herself on the floor in front of Mrs John than she became instantly aware that Mr Wright had removed himself once again from his selected situation , traversed the whole length of the drawing room, sought a low stool from the music room behind her, and was personally arranging it so that she could continue her labours in more comfort. Catching his eye for just a second she smiled her thanks , perched herself upon it, and basked for the rest of the e vening in the approbation that his li ttle act of kindness appeared, t o her , to d emonstrate .

Chapter 3
    It was about a week after the party that Maggie found herself sitting on the beach with Will and Augusta , parasol raised defiantly against the patchy sunshine . She would much rather not have been sitting there on the beach, and in particular would much rather not have been sitting there on the beach with the terrible twins, who required watching every moment of the day in case a new opportunity for terrorism should happen their way and tempt them into further misdemeanour. Despite this vigilance , however, she had not immediately spotted that Will was currently in the process of destroy ing another child’s sand castle and hit ting him on the head with his sp ade whilst his sister Augusta was taking the opportunity provided by this distraction to steal the unfortunate victim ’s liquorice from his pocket . His handiwork destroyed, his head battered and his liquorice stolen, what cou ld the poor child do but to run bawling and screaming to his mama , who had somewhat rashly allowed her own concentration to lapse for a moment in the face of a most engaging conversation with an acquaintance of hers on the steps which led up from the sand y beach and on to the roadway above it .
    ‘ Whatever is the matter, Henry?’ Maggie could hear her say, a little acerbically , as the child’s screams impacted on her consciousness at last. ‘Stop that screaming this minute or I shall march you straight back home to see your papa.’
    ‘But those horrid children have hit me and stolen my liquorice, mama.’
    ‘No we have not,’ countered Will. ‘You are telling fibs. You yourself were hitting me.’
    ‘And the liquorice is