Page 22 of The Lady and the Footballer
“We were supposed to have an exhibition match this weekend, but no, now the club we were supposed to play is playing the Athletics instead.”
“Why?” Lily blinked.
“I don’t know. Montgomery probably bribed them or promised some additional perks. He’s messing with me because I denied him.”
Lily looked down at her plate, uncertain what her response should be. While she appreciated her father not marrying her off for his own gain, she also didn’t like how he seemed to blame her for something that wasn’t her fault.
“I’m sorry to hear it,” she finally said.
“We’ll find another team to play, but it will be a working-class team that will not be as challenging. The next thing you know, our first Cup series will begin.”
“What is this Cup again?” her mother asked, waving her fork in the air, and Lily wasn’t certain if she was trying to annoy her father or if she did so accidentally.
“The FA Cup,” he said between gritted teeth. “It is what we are playing for.”
“What does FA mean?”
“Football Association. It follows the rules of football that were put in place four years ago,” he said. “The ones that everyone is to follow – except Sheffield, who tries to get away with playing their own rules, but they can’t when they play us.”
“I see,” her mother said, clearly uninterested as she returned to her plate, taking two more bites in silence before she pushed back and excused herself from the table, leaving Lily and her father sitting alone.
“Well, what did you want to talk to me about?” he asked. “Might as well ask now that your mother is gone.”
“It can wait,” Lily said hastily. It didn’t seem the right time to bring any more concerns to him.
“Now I’d like to know even more.”
“It’s just that I’ve noticed some discrepancies in the account books,” she said, “as though money has gone missing, just a bit at a time every month.”
“Missing?” he said with a raised brow. “As in stolen?”
“Perhaps,” she said. “The bank account does not match the ledgers.”
“I’ll talk with the bank,” he said. “No one on the committee would dare do such a thing.”
She nodded, hoping she wouldn’t be blamed for this.
“May I be excused?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, and she rose and began walking out of the room, pausing and looking back over her shoulder when he called her name.
“I saw you walking off the factory floor today. Do not go down there again.”
She nodded before walking out of the door, head held high.
She wasn’t sure if she would be able to keep that promise.
But she could promise to try.
Chapter Nine
Don’t look for her.
Colin lectured himself as he and Joey kicked the ball back and forth while warming up for the exhibition match that had been scheduled for this weekend. He knew that the club committee was disappointed that they were no longer playing Kent, but he had played many of the men on the Ironworkers team before, and they were not to be dismissed.
He wondered whether Lord Harcourt would allow his daughter to attend again.
He wondered how serious her injuries had been.
