No Peace for Amelia Read Online Free Page B

next to her and chewed her food slowly and purposefully . The hardest bit was not making eating noises, especially when there was clear soup, as there was tonight – consommy Mary Ann called it, and nobody was unkind enough to correct her pronunciation. Thick soup was easier to eat quietly – it seemed to be less irredeemably wet – but clear soup was so thin that it was difficult to control.
    Amelia was making such a determined effort to transfer the beef consommé from the soupspoon into her mouth and safely down her throat, which would make the most unbecoming swallowing sounds, no matter how hard she tried to control it, that she almost missed the conversation her parents were having quietly at the other side of the table. But not entirely. She tuned in just as Mama was saying, ‘Eleanora is prostrate, and as for Gerald, he’s out of his mind with worry and anger and disapproval and heaven knows what other emotions. It really is too bad of the boy.’
    Amelia recognised the names of the parents of her friends Frederick and Lucinda Goodbody. ‘The boy’ could only mean Frederick – there was only one son in that family. Amelia pricked up her ears. What on earth could Frederick have done that was having such a very dramatic effect on his parents? Frederick was always so polite and well-behaved, it was hard to imagine him involved in a family row. And yet she was not entirely surprised to hear that something was up in that family, after Frederick’s odd moodiness on Sunday.
    â€˜But does he realise the seriousness of what he is doing ?’ she heard her father ask, his voice full of concern. What could he be talking about?
    â€˜Oh, Papa!’ Amelia cried out, exasperated, ‘I wish you and Mama wouldn’t mutter so. You always complain if Edmund and I have secrets at breakfast, and you say that meals are for sharing conversation as well as food. I dothink grown-ups might follow their own maxims occasionally .’ It all came out much more irritable than she intended it to.
    Grandmama gave a disapproving little cough, but she said nothing – just lapped away quietly at her soup, without a hint of slurping. How ever did she manage it?
    â€˜You’re quite right, Amelia,’ said Mama, who was always fair. ‘It’s rude to have a private conversation at a family meal.’ But instead of addressing the situation by letting Amelia into the conversation, she chose instead to change the subject. After her outburst, which really was stronger than the situation had warranted, Amelia felt a little sheepish, so she didn’t dare to try to turn the subject back again, but instead answered monosyllabically the questions Mama put to her about her history essay and whether her second-best boots needed heeling.
    And so it wasn’t until the following morning that Amelia found out what was afoot in the Goodbody household . Lucinda came into the classroom pale and red-eyed. Good heavens, thought Amelia, it must be something truly dreadful that Frederick has done if Lucinda is so upset. Lucinda Goodbody was not known for the softness of her heart or the quickness of her sympathies.
    When they were little girls of twelve, Amelia and Lucinda had been best friends: Amelia had admired Lucinda terribly, and Lucinda had basked in theadmiration. But there had been a coolness between them at one point, and though they had long since made it up and were no longer pitted against one another, they had never resumed their former closeness.
    Still, Amelia didn’t care to see Lucinda miserable, and besides, she wanted to find out about Frederick, so she sidled up to Lucinda at coffee-break and asked, not unkindly , ‘What’s up, Lucy? Everything all right? You look a bit washed out.’
    â€˜Oh, Amelia!’ said Lucinda, with a wobble in her voice, and with that she collapsed on Amelia’s shoulder and sobbed out: ‘Frederick’s enlisted! He’s