Little Girl Lost Read Free

Margriet said.
    â€˜I’m so sorry that I can’t, Frederik,’ Rosamund murmured. ‘And I regret only meeting your parents on our wedding day.’
    â€˜Yes.’ He lowered his eyes. It was remiss of him too not to have taken Margriet to his homeland before his father died a year ago. His parents had never met their granddaughter, but he hoped that when his mother was out of mourning perhaps she would come back with him after one of his visits.
    â€˜Come, give Mama a kiss goodnight.’ Rosamund held out her hand to Margriet. ‘Sleep well.’
    â€˜Goodnight, Mama,’ Margriet said dutifully and offered her cheek, glancing at her father. He nodded.
    â€˜I’ll be up in five minutes,’ he told her, ‘and we’ll have a story.’
    â€˜A short one,’ Rosamund reminded him. ‘Supper will be almost ready.’
    â€˜Yes,’ he said irritably, bending to give Margriet a kiss. ‘I know.’
    After Margriet had gone up, he said, rather testily, which was unlike him, ‘Please do not begrudge the child an extra ten minutes of my time, Rosamund. She must get lonely with only the company of servants, for she has little of yours!’
    â€˜I don’t understand what you mean, Frederik,’ she said primly, which didn’t delude him in the least. She knew very well what he meant and how irritated he was that she spent so little time with their daughter. ‘I cannot indulge or cosset her in the way that you do or she will grow up to be outspoken and unconventional, which will ruin her chances of making a suitable marriage.’
    He said nothing more. Rosamund was inflexible, entrenched in traditional rules of what women should and shouldn’t do. For eight years he had offered her the opportunity to speak her mind and enjoy the equality and companionship of a good marriage, and she had chosen not to accept. Well, he would not in future pander to her; she could go to the devil, he thought resentfully. In a few more years, when Margriet was old enough to travel with a maid, he would take her to visit his mother and siblings and show her what family life could be like.
    After giving Margriet time to get into bed, he went upstairs and pulled an easy chair closer to her bedside. ‘Your mama thinks it too cold to walk out tomorrow.’ He saw her expression close up. ‘But you and I will still go.’ He smiled at her obvious delight. ‘You can ask Florrie to give you a warm scarf to wear with your coat in case you need it, though I don’t think you will. It’s May, after all, and quite warm.’
    Margriet nodded. ‘I’d like to wear my grey bonnet, because Florrie has put a new blue ribbon on it. She said it needed prettying up and that blue would match my eyes. It’s not as pretty as Mama’s new hat with the flowers and feathers, but I’ll have to wait until I’m grown up to wear one of those.’
    â€˜I’m sure your bonnet will look lovely,’ he said, ‘and so will you. Now, what shall we read tonight?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’m a little tired of the ones we always read. You can choose, Papa.’
    â€˜Well, I was thinking that maybe I’ll tell you something about history, about the old days, or perhaps Miss Ripley does that?’
    She nodded and sighed. ‘She tells me about kings and queens, but it’s a bit boring because all she wants me to learn are the dates when they were on the throne.’
    â€˜Mmm. And has Miss Ripley told you about our young queen, or of the time when King Henry had a palace in Hull?’
    Margriet considered. ‘I know when Victoria came to the throne. It was in June 1837, after her uncle William died. I don’t remember it because I was only a baby, but I think I remember seeing all the flags in the streets when she married Prince Albert and we went to parties to celebrate, didn’t we,