Page 59 of The Sapphire Child
She laughed. ‘At least that’s honest. You came to play at my house years ago, when you first came back from India. You were so exotic – I’d never known anyone from that far away before.’
He still had no idea who she was. His mother had dragged him all over the county that summer when he’d rather have been spending it with Stella.
‘Oh, yes.’ He tried to sound convincing. ‘I’m sorry, you’ll have to remind me of your name.’
‘Felicity.’
This was becoming embarrassing. The name meant nothing to him.
Her smile turned into a pout. ‘You still don’t remember, do you? I made you play with my dolls and you spent half the time in the loo – I thought you had tummy trouble ’cause you’d been in India, but afterwards I realised you were probably hiding from me.’
Finally, Andrew remembered. ‘Flis-Tish!’ he exclaimed.
She gave him a quizzical look.
He laughed bashfully. ‘It’s the name I called you because I couldn’t remember Felicity.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, I’m glad I made some sort of impression on you.’ She held out her hand. ‘I’m Felicity Douglas. Pleased to meet you, Andrew Lomax.’
Andrew shook hands. ‘Delighted to meet you, Miss Douglas.’
‘So, why are you leaving?’
‘I – er – my mother’s not well and I don’t want to leave her too long on her own.’
‘So, it’s not because you’re bored?’
He found her directness disconcerting.
‘I am,’ she continued. ‘Or I was until I spotted you – which wasn’t hard considering you’re one of the tallest people here – and you look very handsome in your outfit, by the way. Are you in the army now?’
‘Yes. Officer training.’ He reached inside his doublet for his cigarette case, his interest piqued. ‘And what about you?’
‘Still at boarding school. Can I have one of those, please?’
Andrew hesitated and looked back at the throng of people beyond the entrance. ‘Are you allowed?’
‘Mummy won’t mind and anyway, no one can see us in the dark out here.’
Andrew gave a grunt of amusement and offered her a cigarette, lighting hers and then his own. He blew out smoke, feeling relief ripple through him. He expected her to cough or gasp at the strong tobacco but she smoked like someone who was used to it.
‘Do you enjoy school?’ he asked.
She made a derisive sound. ‘You sound like an aged uncle. You’re not really interested, are you? And no, not much is the answer.’ She eyed him through a gauze of smoke. ‘I noticed that you don’t drink. Not alcohol, anyway. Why is that?’
Andrew shrugged. ‘I don’t like the taste.’
He wasn’t going to tell her that having a father and mother who drank too much had put him off for life. He never wanted to be that out of control.
‘I’m not supposed to drink but I quite like the taste of sweet sherry,’ Felicity admitted.
Andrew tried to remember how much younger she was than him. She must be about sixteen but she seemed older. Precocious, his grandmother would say.
‘What do you want to do when you leave school?’ he asked. ‘If that’s not too much of an aged-uncle question.’
She smiled. ‘The truth is I’m not sure. My parents want me to go to finishing school – learn how to arrange flowers and boring things. I’d rather go to India and hunt tigers.’
Andrew laughed. ‘Something tells me that you’ll get your way, Miss Douglas.’ He ground out his cigarette and put the butt into his pocket.
