Dream a Little Dream Read Online Free Page B

promise.’
    Agnes raised her glass. ‘I’d have cried me bleedin’ eyes out if I’d had to have walked out and left you and Miss Abbie. But I would have done it, Mr Robert, ’cos I’ve got me pride. I’ll have no toffee-nosed little madam looking down her nose at me.’
    ‘I rather think Victoria will have learned her lesson, Agnes. She does love to show off and act the lady, but beneath the surface she’s not as cold as she appears. I don’t think she would deliberately hurt anyone. But that is not to excuse her behaviour because there is no excuse for bad manners.’ Robert sighed. ‘It’s been a rare old day today. I’ve spent much of it thinking about the past, when we were skint and happy. And I’ve been remembering my mam and dad. You’d have liked my mam, she’d have been right up your street. She was only the size of sixpenn’orth of copper, but she was wiry and all there on top. If she’d had a day like today, she’d have been waiting on the step for me to come in from work. And she’d have said, “It’s been a right bleedin’ day today, son, and that’s the truth. I’ll tell yer all about it when ye’re having yer dinner. That’s if there’s any arse left in the bleedin’ pan” ’
    Agnes grinned and raised her glass. ‘Ye’re right, I would have liked yer mam. Me and her would have been the best of mates.’

Chapter Two
    Abbie rapped lightly on the study door with a knuckle, and when her father answered she opened the door and popped her head in. ‘Would you rather wait until tomorrow night, Dad, to have our talk? What with all the upset, and you having a headache, perhaps this is not the right time?’
    ‘There’s no time like the present, dear, so come on in.’ He smiled at the daughter who held a special place in his heart, and waved her to a chair. ‘As I said to Agnes, it’s been a rare old day today.’
    ‘She’s not leaving us, is she, Dad? I couldn’t bear it if she did. She’s always been so kind to me, letting me sit in the kitchen when I come home from school, and listening to what I’ve been up to. And she’s always interested and never loses patience with me, even when she’s busy baking, or peeling potatoes. Never once has she said she didn’t have time to listen, or chase me away. I feel as if she’s one of the family, and I do love her.’
    ‘She’s not leaving, dear, but it was a close thing. If it had been one of the nights when I go straight from the office to the club, Agnes would have upped stakes and walked out of the door. And, frankly, I wouldn’t have blamed her. She deserves to be treated with the respect she has more than earned in the ten years she’s been with us. And I’ve given her my word it will never happen again.’ Robert clipped the end of his cigar before eyeing his daughter. ‘I know half of the story, but not the whole. I want you to tell me what caused Agnes to think you had been getting picked on?’
    ‘It was nothing, Dad.’ Abbie couldn’t quite hide the catch in her voice. ‘It’s best forgotten, there have been enough bitter words spoken today. So let’s put it behind us and start afresh.’
    ‘If that’s the way you want it, dear, but if ever you think you’re been unfairly treated, come and talk to me. If you can confide in Agnes, then surely you can confide in your own father?’
    She smiled. ‘I can stick up for myself, you know! That is what started the trouble in the first place. If I’d known that would happen I would have kept my mouth closed. I’ll be very careful in future.’
    ‘No, my dear, it is best to speak your mind if you think you are in the right.’
    Not when you’ve got two against you, it isn’t, Abbie thought. She left Nigel out, because in his own way he had tried to defend her. But the scene in the kitchen when her mother had insisted that Victoria help serve the dinner, was still fresh in her mind. Tempers flared when her sister objected, saying she had no intention of ruining