The Daughters of Eden Trilogy: The Shadow Catcher, Fever Hill & the Serpent's Tooth by Michelle Paver Page A
Authors: Michelle Paver
Tags: Romance
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‘will outlive us all.’ She shuts the book with a thump, and catches him eyeing it, and twists that curvy red mouth of hers. ‘I had no idea how to cook or clean, so I thought I should learn. Lettice was horrified; she despises Mrs Beeton. Calls it “the Bible for parvenues who don’t know which fork to use”.’ She and Sophie swap one of their sister-looks that’s nearly a smile, then she tells Sophie to lay the table.
Sophie sucks in her lips like she knows Ben’s watching, and hops to the dresser for bowls and that. Four of everything, he can’t help noticing. He gets that hot prickly feeling again, and stays by the door, so he can cut the lucky whenever he likes.
He watches Robbie sitting at the table, and Sophie fetching a jug of milk keeping fresh in the sink, and Madeleine dishing out the soup. And all of a sudden he’s back at Sunday dinner in the old days, with Kate laying the table and yelling at him to run down the pump and sluice or I’ll tan your hide.
His chest hurts. He’s got to get out of here. But he can’t. He watches Madeleine eating neatly like a cat, and Robbie slopping milk in his soup, and Sophie chatting for England. He never met a bint that talked as much as her. If she talked that much in Shelton Street she’d get beaten up.
All of a sudden she hikes her frock up to her knees and goes, ‘Look, Ben, I’ve got a bruise. I fell down the steps and banged my knee.’
‘Sophie . . .’ says Madeleine, but Sophie twists in her chair and peels back her black stocking to show the cleanest, smoothest knee Ben ever saw. She’s frowning and pointing to a faint pink swelling with one clean pink finger.
‘That’s no bruise,’ he sneers.
‘Yes it jolly well is,’ she flashes back, ‘and it hurts, too.’
Crikey, he thinks. I was right about them eyebrows.
The smell of the soup’s making him dizzy, so after a bit he sidles over and pulls up a chair where Madeleine’s set a bowl for him. It’s the best grub he’s ever had in his natural. Great big lumps of meat and onions and barley and stout.
Robbie looks up, soup down his chin, and goes, ‘Ben clumped a geezer.’
‘Shut it,’ mumbles Ben.
‘This geezer calls me a charlie,’ goes Robbie, ‘and Ben goes I’ll get you, and the geezer laughs ’cos he’s a docker and big as a shed. But Ben waits and tips this barrel on him, and the geezer falls under a dray and the wheels go on his legs, and Ben goes, now who’s the cripple, eh?’ Robbie leans back and roars. Then he sees the bints aren’t laughing, and looks worried.
Sophie’s staring at Ben with her big brown eyes. ‘Didn’t you get told off?’
‘Who by?’
‘Um. Your parents?’
He snorts. ‘Dead and gone.’
‘That’s a coincidence, so are ours.’
They go back to their soup. Then Sophie asks Robbie what their mother looked like, and he’s off.
‘She had red hair, like me, but Pa’s was black like Ben’s, and Pa knocked her about so she died. Then Ben took me away and Pa died too and Ben said good riddance. Ma used to send us hop-picking, that’s why Ben’s so strong, but I had to stop home on account of I was too little. And we had two whole rooms in East Street with a separate bed for the kids, and every Sunday Ben had to fetch the dinner from the bakehouse, brisket and batter pudding and spuds.’
Ben shuts him up with a cuff. Robbie’s always pestering him to tell it, but he shouldn’t be gabbing to this lot.
Sophie goes, ‘I’ve never seen a picture of my mother. Cousin Lettice burned them all. But I do have a cabinet card of Miss Sarah Bernhardt, whom Maddy says Mama resembled. Although I’m not sure how Maddy knows that, for she says that she scarcely remembers Mama at all.’ A sideways look at her sister, like they’ve had fights about that.
Ben says to Madeleine, ‘This Cousin Lettice. She all you got left?’
She nods. ‘Mother died when Sophie was born, and Father was killed in the Sudan.’
‘What’s
Sophie sucks in her lips like she knows Ben’s watching, and hops to the dresser for bowls and that. Four of everything, he can’t help noticing. He gets that hot prickly feeling again, and stays by the door, so he can cut the lucky whenever he likes.
He watches Robbie sitting at the table, and Sophie fetching a jug of milk keeping fresh in the sink, and Madeleine dishing out the soup. And all of a sudden he’s back at Sunday dinner in the old days, with Kate laying the table and yelling at him to run down the pump and sluice or I’ll tan your hide.
His chest hurts. He’s got to get out of here. But he can’t. He watches Madeleine eating neatly like a cat, and Robbie slopping milk in his soup, and Sophie chatting for England. He never met a bint that talked as much as her. If she talked that much in Shelton Street she’d get beaten up.
All of a sudden she hikes her frock up to her knees and goes, ‘Look, Ben, I’ve got a bruise. I fell down the steps and banged my knee.’
‘Sophie . . .’ says Madeleine, but Sophie twists in her chair and peels back her black stocking to show the cleanest, smoothest knee Ben ever saw. She’s frowning and pointing to a faint pink swelling with one clean pink finger.
‘That’s no bruise,’ he sneers.
‘Yes it jolly well is,’ she flashes back, ‘and it hurts, too.’
Crikey, he thinks. I was right about them eyebrows.
The smell of the soup’s making him dizzy, so after a bit he sidles over and pulls up a chair where Madeleine’s set a bowl for him. It’s the best grub he’s ever had in his natural. Great big lumps of meat and onions and barley and stout.
Robbie looks up, soup down his chin, and goes, ‘Ben clumped a geezer.’
‘Shut it,’ mumbles Ben.
‘This geezer calls me a charlie,’ goes Robbie, ‘and Ben goes I’ll get you, and the geezer laughs ’cos he’s a docker and big as a shed. But Ben waits and tips this barrel on him, and the geezer falls under a dray and the wheels go on his legs, and Ben goes, now who’s the cripple, eh?’ Robbie leans back and roars. Then he sees the bints aren’t laughing, and looks worried.
Sophie’s staring at Ben with her big brown eyes. ‘Didn’t you get told off?’
‘Who by?’
‘Um. Your parents?’
He snorts. ‘Dead and gone.’
‘That’s a coincidence, so are ours.’
They go back to their soup. Then Sophie asks Robbie what their mother looked like, and he’s off.
‘She had red hair, like me, but Pa’s was black like Ben’s, and Pa knocked her about so she died. Then Ben took me away and Pa died too and Ben said good riddance. Ma used to send us hop-picking, that’s why Ben’s so strong, but I had to stop home on account of I was too little. And we had two whole rooms in East Street with a separate bed for the kids, and every Sunday Ben had to fetch the dinner from the bakehouse, brisket and batter pudding and spuds.’
Ben shuts him up with a cuff. Robbie’s always pestering him to tell it, but he shouldn’t be gabbing to this lot.
Sophie goes, ‘I’ve never seen a picture of my mother. Cousin Lettice burned them all. But I do have a cabinet card of Miss Sarah Bernhardt, whom Maddy says Mama resembled. Although I’m not sure how Maddy knows that, for she says that she scarcely remembers Mama at all.’ A sideways look at her sister, like they’ve had fights about that.
Ben says to Madeleine, ‘This Cousin Lettice. She all you got left?’
She nods. ‘Mother died when Sophie was born, and Father was killed in the Sudan.’
‘What’s
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