The Fairbairn Girls Read Online Free

him quiver.
    ‘Come on, lads! Buck up!’ Mr Stuart said bracingly.
    Freddie gave him a withering look. ‘A stable boy is a “lad”; I’m Lord Fairbairn,’ he said coldly.
    Mr Stuart eyes glinted with amusement. ‘Your father has given strict orders that titles do not exist in the schoolroom. You are plain Freddie and Henry is Henry. Your sisters are not referred to as “Lady” this and that when they’re in the schoolroom or the nursery.’
    Freddie raised his chin rebelliously. ‘I’m Viscount Fairbairn everywhere I go.’ There was a defiant swagger in the way he spoke.
    Henry gave a sweet smile. ‘Well, I don’t mind being called just “Henry”.’ There was a thoughtful pause. ‘I’m only the Hon. anyway.’
    Mr Stuart gave an approving nod in his direction. It had been obvious to him from the moment he’d set eyes on the brothers that Henry was a good-natured soul, kind and even-tempered, while Freddie was an obnoxious little bully who was far too full of himself. In fact, if he’d been a betting man, Hector Stuart would have put a few sovereigns on Freddie turning out to be a complete and utter rotter.
    In the north wing a governess, Miss Napier, was endeavouring to educate Diana, Georgina, Beatrice and also Eleanor, who had recently, at the age of ten, been considered bright enough to be with her older sisters.
    ‘I believe she just needs encouraging and being with the others will help. She lacks self-confidence,’ Miss Napier told their mother.
    ‘Not too much encouraging, I hope,’ Lady Rothbury retorted briskly. ‘Men do not like clever girls. Don’t bother teaching her arithmetic or anything like that. She’ll never need it. I’d rather you concentrated on getting her to read good books and maybe do a little sketching.’
    Laura had gone straight to the library, where she settled herself at the round table in the centre. This was the warmest, most welcoming room in the castle, lined by oak bookcases holding six thousand books. Thick green velvet curtains masked the icy draughts from the windows and brown leather chairs were arranged for comfort near the big stone grate where logs fizzled and blazed.
    She opened a notebook and, after sharpening a pencil, started to write, wanting to pin down on paper all her memories of the past few days while they were still fresh in her mind. It had been six weeks since Rory’s last visit, when he’d proposed and given her a diamond and sapphire engagement ring, and she’d felt quite sick with excitement when she heard his carriage draw up in the drive four days ago. On seeing him again sudden shyness had overwhelmed her for a moment, and she was glad they weren’t alone as her mother and sisters gathered around to welcome him back, but then they’d gone for a walk in the gardens on their own and suddenly she knew without a shadow of doubt that she was deeply in love with him.
    How happy they’d been during the past few days, she thought as she scribbled in her notebook. She was missing him already, even though he’d only been gone an hour. If only she could have gone with him, she reflected, to his home in the south of England where it was warmer and the landscape was gently undulating and green instead of rugged.
    Only now, as she sat alone in the library, did she realize with a sense of shock how empty and incomplete her life was without him.
    Lizzie came barging into the room at that moment, full of purpose. ‘What are you doing?’
    ‘I was thinking . . .’
    ‘That can be dangerous, you know. Are you missing Rory already?’
    Laura nodded, her eyes over-bright. ‘Don’t you long to leave here?’
    Lizzie sat down opposite and leaned her elbows on the table. ‘Yes, sometimes,’ she agreed.
    ‘We’re missing so much by being cooped up here miles from anywhere,’ Laura complained. ‘I’m longing for the bright lights of a great city like London where there’s so much to see and so many things to do. If it wasn’t for the fact