Before the Storm Read Online Free Page B

hour later Fox went to the laundry with Mrs Lang, to check on the progress with drying his clothes. Daniel had already been out of the room for some time. Emily and Daniel had spent their lives reading about heroes in the classics that they studied at school, and in adventure novels. Now they had actually met one, and he had rescued them. Fox was everything that a hero should be, as far as Emily was concerned: brave, strong, well-mannered, modest, yet … there was something very strange about him. His manner was distant and withdrawn, like that of a dog that had been beaten too often, and had learned to avoid trouble. He was highly intelligent, yet he took a lot of care to disguise the fact. He said nothing funny, and even missed jokes made by others. Fox did laugh, but only when others were laughing. Emily felt sure that the mistakes he made were not really those of a foreigner. Try as she might, however, she could not think of anyone that he resembled.
    As Emily sat staring into the fire, she found herself daydreaming about BC. Annoyed with herself, she switched her thoughts to Fox. Moments later her thoughts drifted back to BC. He was shooting at dark shapes in the smoke, his skin pale, and his hair dark and wavy. Again Emily tried to think about Fox. It was he who had rescued her, after all. Moments later she found herself dreaming about nursing the wounded BC back to health. Slowly the day began to catch up with Emily, and she caught herself starting to doze. Daniel came back into the room with a book.
    â€˜I was just checking what Fox said about the names of the planets,’ her brother announced. ‘He got them right, except that he put in three make-believe names at the end.’
    Once again something unsettling began batting about like a moth at the back of Emily’s mind. She shivered.
    â€˜Can I see?’ she asked as casually as she could.
    â€˜Yes, but be quick about it. You know how Mother and Father feel about girls learning science.’
    Emily quickly turned to the book’s chapter on astronomy. She was surprised to learn that some planets had not always been known. Uranus had been discovered in 1781, and Neptune in 1846. There were many asteroids, but the first had only been discovered in 1801. Charon, Cerebus and Terminus were definitely not mentioned.
    â€˜Tomorrow’s Sunday,’ said Daniel. ‘You know what we do on Sunday?’
    â€˜We go to church, have a roast for lunch, then spend the rest of the day being bored.’
    â€˜Well, I think that if Fox’s clothes are not dry, he might have to come back for them. If he returns early, he could come to church with us before lunch. Mother did invite him … well, sort of.’
    â€˜Why not ask him, silly?’
    â€˜It … it sounds, er, sissy, a boy asking another boy to go to church. I thought you might ask him instead.’
    â€˜No!’ exclaimed Emily. ‘He might think that I had, ah, an interest in him. Danny, just make the suggestion yourself.’
    â€˜But only girls make those sorts of suggestions.’
    â€˜Oh, nonsense.’
    â€˜I still think a girl should ask that sort of thing.’
    â€˜No!’
    â€˜Look, why don’t we both ask him? That way I don’t look like a sissy, and you don’t look like you’re courting him.’
    Emily considered this. Push Daniel too far, and he would drop the subject. Daniel clearly wanted to be more of a friend to Fox, while Emily was intrigued by him. Now Daniel was offering a compromise. With careful, casual questioning, Fox might talk about BC, and the very thought of that quickened Emily’s pulse.
    â€˜I’ll go with you, but only if you actually speak to him,’ she conceded.
    â€˜Can I say that it was your idea?’ asked Daniel eagerly.
    â€˜You can say it was our idea,’ Emily said firmly.
    â€˜I suppose that will have to do … but I still say boys are not supposed to ask other boys to