Free The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer

compared
with real shops like the ones on Fifth Avenue.”
    Abel scribbled a
note on the back of his menu, “Shops dreadfully dull,” and doodled around it
carefully before he said, “I’ll not be returning to Chicago with you,
Florentyna.”
    For once
Florentyna was silent.
    “Some problems
have come up here with the hotel and I have to stay behind to see they don’t
get out of hand,” he said, the line sounding a little too well rehearsed.
    Florentyna
gripped her father’s hand. “Try and come back tomorrow. Eleanor and I always
miss you.”
    Once Florentyna
had returned to Chicago Miss Tredgold set about preparing her for Upper School.
Each day they would spend two hours studying a different subject, but
Florentyna was allowed to choose whether they should work in the momings or the
afternoons. The only exception to the rule was on Thursdays, when their
sessions took place in the morning as it was Miss Tredgold’s afternoon off.
    At two o’clock
promptly every Thursday she would leave the house and not return until seven
that night. She never explained where she was going, and Florentyna never
summoned up the courage to ask. But as the holiday progressed Florentyna became
more and more curious about where Miss. Tredgold spent her time until finally
she resolved to discover for herself.
    After a Thursday
morning of Latin and a light lunch together in the kitchen, Miss Tredgold said
goodbye to Florentyna and retired to her room. As two o’clock struck she opened
the front door of the house and headed off down the street carrying a large
canvas bag. Florentyna watched her carefully through her bedroom window. Once
Miss Tredgold had turned the comer of Rigg Street, Florentyna dashed out and
ran all the way down to the Inner Drive. She peered around to see her mentor
waiting at a bus stop on Michigan Avenue. She could feel her heart beating at
the thought of not being able to follow Miss Tredgold any farther. Within
minutes she watched a bus draw up and 61 come to a halt. She was about to turn
back for home when she noticed Miss Tredgold disappear up the circular
staircase of the double-decker. Without hesitation, Florentyna ran and jumped
onto the moving platform, then quickly made her way to the front of the bus.
    When the ticket
collector asked her where she was going, Florentyna suddenly realized she had
no idea of her destination.
    “How far do you
go?” she asked.
    The collector
looked at her suspiciously. “The Loop,” he replied.
    “One single for
The Loop, then,” Florentyna said confidently.
    “That’ll be
fifteen cents,” said the conductor.
    Florentyna
fumbled in her jacket pocket to discover she had only ten cents.
    “How far can I
go for ten cents?”
    “Rylands School”
came back the reply.
    Florentyna
passed over the money, praying that Miss Tredgold would reach her destination
before she would have to get off, while not giving any thought to how she would
make the return journey.
    She sat low in
her seat and watched carefully each time the bus came to .4 halt along the lake
front, but even after she had counted twelve stops and passed the University of
Chicago, Miss Tredgold still did not appear.
    “Your stop is
next,” the conductor said a few minutes later.
    When the bus
next came to a halt, Florentyna knew she was beaten. She stepped down
reluctantly onto the sidewalk thinking about the long walk home and determined
that the following week she would have enough money to cover the journey both
ways.
    She stood
unhappily watching the bus as it traveled a few hundred yards farther down the
street before coming to a stop once more. A figure stepped out into the road
which could only have been Miss Tredgold. She disappeared down a side street,
looking as if she knew exactly where she was going.
    Florentyna ran
as hard as she could, but when she reached the comer, breathless, there was no
sign of Miss Tredgold. Florentyna walked slowly down the street wondering where
her govemess could