Page 82 of The Seaside Homecoming
“But these are not all your sisters,” Mrs. Harding said.
“No. Viola is married now, and she and Major Hutton live nearby.” Emily looked pointedly at Mr. Craven. “The one you struck with a cricket ball last summer, as you may recall.”
“And the other?” Mrs. Harding persisted.
Emily and Sarah exchanged uneasy glances across the table. Mamma, Sarah noticed, set down her spoon, soup untouched.
“Do you mean our oldest sister, Claire?” Georgie asked. “Are you acquainted with her?”
Mr. Craven replied, “Only by reputation.”
A commotion sounded from under the table, and Mr. Craven winced and muttered, “Oof.”
“Are you all right?” Georgie asked.
“Em ... yes. Just kicked ... the chair leg.”
“She does not live here with you?” Mrs. Harding asked.
“Here in Sea View? No.”
“How surprising, when you all seem so close.”
Miss Craven asked, “Has she married, like the other sister you mentioned?”
“No.” Sarah’s pleasant expression felt stiff on her face.
“And may we ask where she lives?”
“Why?” Emily asked a touch sharply. “Why are you so interested?”
“We are not. Only attempting to make polite dinner conversation.”
Georgiana looked from her sisters to her mother and back again, the pause noticeable. “Is it such a secret?”
When no one answered, she took a rather large bite of crusty bread, perhaps to keep herself from saying more.
When the silence grew heavy, Emily explained, “Claire only recently came here from Scotland. She lives at Broadbridge’s now, in the eastern town. A partner in a boarding house.”
“Really? How ... interesting. Lodging must run in the blood.”
“Pray, what took her to Scotland?”
No one answered immediately. Instead Sarah, Emily, and Mamma stared at one another, gape-mouthed. Mr. Thomson laid his hand atop Emily’s. Mr. Hornbeam sat there, shielded behind his dark glasses, alert, silent, listening. Georgiana busily chewed her bread. Glancing around at her stupefied family, she rolled her eyes, and chewed all the faster.
Sarah answered before she could. “She lived with our great-aunt, who was quite elderly and frail. Served as her companion through her final days.”
Finished at last, Georgie added, “Very good of her. Though we all missed her terribly.”
Mr. Gwilt and Jessie removed the soup bowls and began the next course.
“Again, I wonder why you ask,” Emily said, a sheen of defiance in her eyes. “Have you ever even met her?”
Mrs. Harding picked at her food and said, “No, but one of our friends is acquainted with her. Lord Bertram?”
Mamma dropped her fork with a clatter.
Emily said, “I am acquainted with him as well, as you may recall. A friend of our former neighbor’s.”
