Free Sound of Butterflies, The by Rachael King

a daughter abandoned by her husband to live alone. But Agatha and Sophie both knew that if it was Sophie’s welfare he had been concerned about, they wouldn’t have lied to him; Sophie was convinced he was more worried about appearances than anything else. The thought of his daughter keeping house alone might enrage him. Anyway, it wasn’t a complete lie: Sophie does spend a lot of time with Agatha’s family; she even spent Christmas with them.
    ‘But here’s the problem, see.’ Sophie leans forward and taps the final paragraph of the letter. ‘He wants to visit. The day after tomorrow.’
    Agatha reads it out loud. ‘ I am interested in discussing Thomas’s expedition with him .’ She looks up. ‘Oh, hell.’
    Sophie flinches.
    ‘Sorry,’ says Agatha. ‘What are you going to do?’
    ‘I don’t know. I didn’t expect to have to deal with this so soon. I mean, he never visits. Kingston is only a few miles away, but he just never seems to have the time.’
    ‘And he never issues invitations to you.’
    ‘Precisely.’
    ‘What will he do?’
    ‘If Thomas still isn’t speaking?’
    Agatha pauses. How naïve Sophie can be, how optimistic. That she even thinks there is a chance Thomas will be speaking in two days’ time makes her want to jump up and hug her. ‘Yes,’ she says.
    ‘Well, in the worst situation, I suppose he might order me to come home and insist that Thomas goes to a hospital. But then again, what kind of a scandal would that cause? I doubt he would tolerate that. Perhaps he will ignore the problem. Maybe he will turn his back on us forever.’ She takes the letter back off Agatha and begins to fold it into smaller and smaller squares. Her hands shake and some colour is creeping back into her face.
    ‘Don’t be angry with him yet,’ says Agatha. ‘You don’t know that he’ll desert you.’
    ‘Yes,’ says Sophie. ‘I’m letting my imagination run away. It seems too real sometimes. You’re right. Perhaps he’ll turn out to be kind about Thomas after all.’
    ‘What’ll you do in the meantime?’
    ‘Follow Dr Dixon’s advice, of course. I plan to take him for a walk this afternoon.’
    ‘And you think this will help?’
    Sophie sighs again. It settles over Agatha. The weight of it presses on her shoulders.
    ‘I don’t know, Aggie. What do you think?’
    Agatha sips her tea and takes a bite from a muffin. ‘I think …’ Her mouth is full, but she presses on. ‘What about dancing?’
    This elicits a smile from Sophie. ‘Thomas didn’t dance very well before!’
    ‘Well, there you go!’ says Agatha, pleased she has at last raised some mirth. ‘He’ll probably be much better at it now!’ She reaches out and touches Sophie’s knee. ‘We’ll get him to talk, darling, don’t you worry.’
    ‘I don’t know if it’s just a matter of getting him to talk, as you say. There’s something that has silenced him, and I need to find out how to get him back. To get my Thomas back.’ Her face becomes suddenly red, and the tears follow.
    Agatha realises she has been uncharitable in thinking of Thomas as a snake. It’s not his fault; the man is very ill. She only identified him as the cause of Sophie’s suffering and reacted badly. He is more like an infant, a burden on her poor friend. She must do everything she can to help.
    But not this afternoon. She is already walking towards Robert in her mind, planning the secret route he showed her from the park, which will take her past the ugly old crows that loiter by the wall and through a rotting gate into his garden. She knows that Sophie saw their exchange in church that day, and Agatha has waited for her to say something, or to start asking questions. She might even have told her if she wanted to know. But now her friend has too many other things on her mind.
    Besides, the room is oppressive. There is no hint that it is a beautiful morning outside; the curtains are nearly closed. ‘It’s no wonder you’re feeling so