Amy (The Daughters of Allamont Hall Book 1) Read Free Page A

triumph,” Amy said at once.
    “Sisters!” Belle said. “This is unbecoming in you. Grace, will you not begin your list, before your pen dries up?”
    Grace hastily bent to her task. “The cousins must be first,” she declared, pausing over each name as the pen scratched away. “James. Mark. Hugo.”
    “Really!” Amy snapped. “I am hardly so desperate as that.”
    “Hugo is only sixteen,” protested Belle.
    “They are all quite dreadful,” said Dulcie. “They throw snowballs and put frogs in our beds.”
    “That was a long time ago, sister,” Grace said. “Oh! I have got ink on this gown. This pen is very badly made.” She dabbed at the stain ineffectually with a handkerchief before giving it up. “I should hope the cousins have grown out of such pranks by now. No, they must be on the list. They are very eligible, and they could inherit. Amy would be well advised to marry one of them, for then she would get the Hall, you know. Who else? We must have the Marquess of Carrbridge, of course.”
    The sisters groaned in unison. The great-nephew and heir to the Dowager Countess of Humbleforth had been long anticipated in the neighbourhood, but season after season passed by without a sign of him.
    “The mythical Marquess of Carrbridge,” Hope said. “He will not come.”
    Grace shook her head at them, waving the pen so that drops of ink spattered across the paper. “He is the most eligible man we have in the entire county, so he must be included. Although it is true he will not come just for Amy, you know. Next — Mr Wills.”
    Several of the sisters exclaimed in horror.
    “He is so fat!” Dulcie said. “Quite horrid.”
    Amy shuddered, finding no words to encompass her detestation.
    “We must consider all the possibilities,” Grace said firmly. “He has a very pleasant house, and a substantial income. I am sure I heard Mama say he was very comfortably off.”
    “Three thousand a year, at least,” Belle said. “More than enough for a family, but—”
    “You see?” Grace said. “Perfectly eligible.”
    “But fat !” Dulcie repeated.
    “Yes, yes, but we must be practical,” Grace said cheerfully. “We will be in mourning for months. It limits the possibilities. And — we must all take what we can get, so that Hope may marry Mr Burford before she is as old and dried-up a spinster as Miss Endercott.” They all shuddered. “Now — Sir Osborne Hardy. A title and a fine manor. You would be exceedingly comfortable there, Amy.”
    The sisters were less loud in their disapproval. Sir Osborne would certainly be a fine catch.
    “I do not like him,” Amy said, pulling a face. “He cares too much about his clothes. It is not fitting for a gentleman. I am sure Papa never cared so much about his attire. Once or twice he criticised my dress, too, telling me I should wear shorter sleeves or a lace frill or some such. I thought it very rude of him, and besides, Papa directed what we should wear, and if Papa approved what could Sir Osborne’s opinion signify? So I do not like him at all. And… and I believe he does not like me very much, either. I insulted him once and he did not speak to me again for two years.”
    Hope gasped. “Amy! Whatever did you say to him? It must have been something quite dreadful!”
    “It was. He asked me if I did not admire his waistcoat, and I could not think what to say so I told him it made him look like a frog. It was green, you see. And it did make him look like a frog. So I do not think he would want to marry me in the least, for he is very fond of green waistcoats. And I do not want to marry him , either. Or anyone on the list.”
    Hope heaved a great sigh, and Grace patted Amy’s hand reassuringly, leaving an inky stain. “They are none of them so bad, I am sure. It is just a question of you setting your mind on one of them, and then I am certain you would like him perfectly well.”
    “I do not think that is quite the way of it, sister,” Belle said. “Amy