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Back Sisters of Gold
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Dedication page
  4. A Week’s Work in Birmingham
  5. I
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. II
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. III
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Forty-Nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-One
  59. Fifty-Two
  60. Fifty-Three
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Further Reading
  63. About the Author
  64. By the Same Author

Margaret watched him with a dizzy sense that she was slipping into a reality that was not as she remembered it: that she was being compelled to remember it differently. The old feeling, with Charles, of being forced, came back to her. And she had not told Aunt Hatt anything, so her aunt could not contradict . . . But Annie would never forget. And when Annie walked through the door there would be all hell let loose and everything would be dragged into the open – which also felt more than she could bear. Somehow she had to resolve this situation, so that she could have peace.

Aunt Hatt was beckoning Den and Ivy to the table, putting plates in front of their eager faces. ‘I’m sure I shall have the pleasure of seeing Annie later,’ Charles said. ‘But . . .’ He turned to Margaret and with all the appeal and charm she remembered, he said, ‘Very shortly I shall be taking up my new appointment in the church at Banbury. I should very much like to show it to you, Margaret – for you to come and meet some of the people there. I know they would love you. It’s the work of an afternoon by train, if we were to set off promptly. And . . .’ He lowered his voice a little. ‘It would give us an opportunity to talk for a time. To . . . make peace with each other.’

‘That sounds a lovely idea!’ Aunt Hatt said. ‘It’d do you good to have an outing, Margaret, after being here in the office all this time. Why don’t you go and see?’

Margaret could tell what Aunt Hatt was up to and could not help being amused by it. Charles had worked his charms on her. Aunt Hatt thought she was going to come back engaged to be married! What a lovely man – who could resist? And in her own heart there was a deep longing for peace; for all the pain and bitterness of the last months, the division between herself and her father, and between herself and Charles, to be resolved. In those moments, Charles brought her old home back to her, the village and their ordered life of religious love and service. It felt pure and good and she ached with longing for it.

‘You’ll need some dinner.’ Aunt Hatt had left the room, returning a few moments later with two steaming bowls which she set in front of Den and Ivy. ‘Why don’t you stay and have a dish of soup – it’s a hearty one with pearl barley . . . And I’ve some sausages . . .’ Den had already shovelled several mouthfuls in before she had finished speaking, cheeks bulging. ‘Slow down, young man – no one’s going to steal it off you.’

‘I’m afraid that if we are going, we should leave at once,’ Charles Barber said.