Free Cinderella Sister by Dilly Court

the secret she must keep from the family resting heavily on her narrow shoulders. But Matt had taken her into his confidence and she must be proud of that. She must not let him down.
    She could hear him moving about in the attic room above and she forced herself to take positive action by adding more coal to the fire. The orange and gold flames leapt up the chimney, forming glittering patterns as they ignited the soot on the fireback. It was ironic, she thought, that her brothers spent their working lives putting out fires and yet tonight they would grumble because there was no comforting blaze in the hearth. There was just enough fuel left in the coal shed to keep the kitchen range going and a modest fire in Grandpa’s room, but the front parlour would remain cheerless and chilly until payday. Suddenly Lily’s whole world seemed to have been turned upside down. Times had been hard in the past, but she had felt safe and secure until now; she realised with a heavy heart that if the dock company had their way, everything was about to change.
    ‘Here he is,’ Matt said, pushing the door open with the toe of his boot. He carried the semi-conscious man across to the bed and laid him down gently. ‘He’s been raving like a lunatic, so chances are he won’t recall a thing. Make him comfortable, Lily, I’ve got work to do.’
    ‘Where are you going?’ Lily demanded anxiously. ‘What do I do if he wakes up?’
    Matt shrugged his shoulders. ‘I don’t know, Lil. Give him some more laudanum, I suppose, only don’t overdo it. Just keep him quiet and Nell will see to him when she gets home. I’ve got to write up my report for the shipping agent, and he is going to contact Labrosse’s father in Dieppe by telegraph.’ Matt’s serious expression melted into a grin. ‘I dunno, Lil, but the wonders of modern science might save us yet.’
    She did not feel much like smiling as he left the room. Downstairs she could hear Grandpa’s bell clanging away with the insistence of a fire engine on a shout, and Armand was tossing about on the pillows, muttering feverishly. She braced herself to lift his head gently and hold a glass of water to his lips. This seemed to revive him a little and he opened his eyes. For a moment she thought that he smiled but then he began rambling again and she laid him back on the pillows while she mixed a small dose of laudanum and water. She stayed with him, stroking his hair back from his forehead and speaking softly as she might to a fractious child, until he lapsed into a deep sleep.
    When she left the room she found that her legs were shaking. Looking after sick people seemed to come so easily to Nell, but for Lily it was an ordeal. Sympathy for the young Frenchman had overcome her qualms, but she would gladly relinquish her nursing duties to her eldest sister. She hurried downstairs to placate her grandfather who was interspersing the ringing of his bell with pleas for food.
    * * *
    Later that day, when Grandpa and Aggie were both having their afternoon nap, Lily returned to Armand’s bedside armed with her sketching materials. Her fingers had been itching to capture his likeness on paper, and she knew that she had at least an hour undisturbed. Dr Macpherson had arrived at midday, hoping no doubt to sample some of Aggie’s cooking, but she had not been in a generous mood and he had gone off in a huff, having glanced at the patient and said he was doing as well as could be expected.
    Lily settled down to make sketches of the handsome Frenchman. It would have been much easier had he been awake, but perhaps it was better this way. While he slept he did not seem to suffer pain from his burns and his sprained ankle, and when she laid her hand on his forehead he felt cooler to the touch. That must be a good sign.
    She worked feverishly, making sketch after sketch. If she had had her paints with her she could have added colour, bringing the drawings to life. She would just have to memorise the soft,