Free The India Fan by Victoria Holt Page B

a little alarmed at that.
    hey treat me like a child,she said.
    os didn.
    She began to laugh. e is a rogue,she said.
    hat what they all say.
    h but it was so exciting.
    ou should be careful.
    was if that woman hadn come and found us in the summer house
    I turned away. I wondered what she would say if she knew what had led up to her discovery.
    e said I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
    think they all say that. They think it will get them what they want more quickly.
    hey don. And what do you know about it?
    e heard
    hut up,said Lavinia, and seemed near to tears.
    We made a sort of truce. We were both going into a strange place and the only familiar things there would be each other. We were both a little pleased that we should not be alone.
    We talked a good deal about school.
    We spent two years at Meridian House. I fitted in quite well. I was immediately noticed as a bright child, and as such attracted the attention of the teachers. Lavinia was backward for her age, and showed no inclination to change that state. Moreover, she was arrogant and moody, which did not make her popular, and the fact of her exalted parentagehich she was apt to stress at firstas a deterrent rather than an asset. She had always expected those about her to fit in with her ways and it never occurred to her that she must adapt to others.
    There was a boysschool close by and occasionally we saw the boys playing games on the green near the school. This caused a certain amount of excitement among a section of the girls, particularly on Sundays when we went to the village church for the morning service and the boys occupied the pews immediately opposite us. Of course, Lavinia was to the fore among these girls who had a marked interest in the boys. Notes were smuggled across the aisle, and Sunday morning church was the high spot of the week for some girls, for a reason which would not have pleased the vicar or our formidable headmistress, Miss Gentian.
    It was during our second year at Meridian House that Lavinia experienced her second disaster, and it was inevitable that it was of a nature similar to the first.
    She ignored me for a good deal of the time, remembering me only when she needed help with her work. She had her own little community and they were known as he fast set.They regarded themselves as adult and worldly; they were very daring and knowledgeable of the facts of life. Lavinia was queen of this little band, for though most of them could only theorize on the topic nearest their hearts, Lavinia had had practical experience.
    When she was very angry with me she would sometimes refer to me in a tone of complete contempt as ou virgin!
    I often thought that if Lavinia had been one of that despised sect I might be at home cosily doing my lessons with Miss York and with dear Polly to run to when an emergency arose.
    Polly wrote to me in a rather laborious hand. She had learned to write when Tom had gone away to sea so that she could keep in close touch with him. Her words were often misspelt, but the warmth of her feeling came through to comfort me.
    I often thought of her and Eff during that time, and in the summer holidays I did go to see them. I stayed a week and it was wonderful to be with Polly. She and Eff were doing well. Both had an aptitude for business. Polly was soon on friendly terms with the paying guests and Eff supplied the essential dignity which was part of keeping everyone in order.
    ee what Father would have called a good team,Eff told me. She was particularly pleased at that time, for ownstairs No. 32(which was what she called the tenants of the lower floor in the most recently acquired house) had brought a nipper with them. They were very content and had the garden for the pram, which was a very comfortable arrangement, and Eff and Polly could pop in at any time and gurgle over the child. Eff always referred to her tenants as op Floor 30,irst Floor 32and so on.
    They were wonderful days while Polly listened to my