Free The Black Opal by Victoria Holt

us. Adeline couldn’t bear it … nor could I. We love you.”
    “You dear child,” she said.
    “I love you, too. I love this house. I love …”
    Her lips were trembling, and she went on: “She said I am to go away.
    She is wicked. She cares for no one but herself. The poor doctor .
    what, what am I saying? There is nothing . nothing to be done, but accept what is . “
    I thought: If Mrs. Marline has given her notice to leave, there is nothing to be done. Mrs. Marline always gets what she wants.
     
    I thought of how dreary it would be here without Miss Carson. There would be nothing to look forward to except Uncle Toby’s visits, and they were so infrequent. There would perhaps be Zingara the gipsy, but she had contracts. She would come very rarely.
    When the doctor came home, we were all waiting for what would happen when he went to his wife’s room, as he did every day on his return.
    There was a great deal of shouting on Mrs. Marline’s part. There was no doubt that she was very angry. The doctor came out of the room. His face was white. He went straight to Miss Carson’s room and was there a long time.
    I never learned exactly what happened, but Miss Carson did not go. The doctor had his way, by some means, as he had had before when Mrs. Marline would have sent me to an orphanage and he had wanted me to stay.
    There was a mood of uncertainty in the house. No one was sure what would happen next, and there was a lot of talk behind closed doors. It seemed that Miss Carson had a reprieve. In any event, she stayed.
    She did not go to Mrs. Marline’s room after that. Nor did Adeline. The poor girl was spared those terrifying interludes and she knew that Miss Carson had saved her from them.
    Adeline was of a loving nature, and, more than anyone she had ever known, she adored Miss Carson. Her face would light up with joy when she set eyes on her; and she would watch her all the time, smiling to herself. I had the notion that Adeline only felt safe and happy when Miss Carson was there.
    The doctor was intruding more on my notice. I saw him more frequently.
    He had changed so much. He had become more and more interested in our work, which had never seemed to interest him until Miss Carson came.
    He used to come to the schoolroom often and ask how we were getting on.
     
    His visits were not in the least alarming. He was always smiling. Miss Carson was proud of Adeline’s progress, for she could read a little now, which she had not been able to do before Miss Carson came.
    Adeline would flush with pleasure when Miss Carson said she must read to her papa to show him how clever she had become. And Adeline, a frown of concentration on her face, would open the book and run her finger along the line as she read:
    “Three idle ducklings They played beside the pool. The naughty little idle things They ought to have been at school.”
    Miss Carson clapped her hands when Adeline lifted her eyes, full of pride in her achievement, and waited to see the wonder on the faces of the onlookers. The doctor joined in the applause; and Adeline was very pleased with herself, and so happy.
    I wondered whether the doctor was thinking what I was, which was how different Miss Carson was from Mrs. Marline.
    Then he would ask how Estella and I were getting on, and Miss Carson would show him our work.
    “Good. Good. This is excellent,” he would say, looking at Miss Carson.
    “I thought of starting them in French,” she said one day.
    “What a capital idea!”
    “I could do my best…”
    “Which I am sure would be very good indeed,” said the doctor; and he smiled benignly at us all, including Miss Carson.
    There was no doubt that he at least approved of her, and I often thought how happy the household would be if it were not for Mrs. Marline.
     
    Henry came home from school. He had become very friendly with Lucian Crompton and often went to the Grange. Camilla was at school, too, and when she came home, we were invited to tea. She