Snowflakes and Wallflowers by Lauren Smith EPUB & PDF – eBook Details
- Author: Lauren Smith
- Language: English
- Formats: PDF / EPUB
- Status: Available For Free Download
- Series: None
- Price: Free
- File Size: 1 MB
Cornwall, England, December 1822
Matilda Matthews’s day was ruined by a terrible downpour of icy
rain that shrouded her home Meadow Cross, the little cottage on the
edge of the Earl of Castleton’s estate where she had lived her entire life. She
had hoped for snow; it was certainly cold enough.
A wall of unpleasant gray clouds and sleet had cast a pallid tone to the
skies and ice shimmered on the rippling ivy that climbed up the cottage walls.
They’d had such a late fall that the ivy on the walls had stayed green far
longer than usual, but come tomorrow it would begin to wither beneath the
frost. Not for the first time, Matilda was thankful for her Aunt Florence’s
beautiful paintings of spring flowers that hung upon the walls of their little
cottage. She and her aunt had called the paintings “the wallflowers.” For a
few moments, one could look upon them and believe it was spring and not a
bitterly cold winter.
Matilda gazed out the window with a weary sigh. She had wanted to go to
the village today, but it was far too wintry to set foot outdoors. Her Aunt
Florence had insisted she stay home where it was safe and warm, and she’d
had to agree that was wise, no matter trapped she felt indoors.
“What is it, dear?” Florence spoke from where she sat in an armchair by
the small fire. She had been ill for the past week, which worried Matilda
greatly.
“Oh, nothing,” Matilda said. “I just wish it hadn’t rained.”
The two lived a quiet life, one she loved, but every so often, she craved a
little more excitement. She wanted to at least visit the shops in the village and
mingle with her friends there, even though she had no money to spend. They
lived on a very small yearly income left in a trust by Matilda’s father, who
had been the steward of the Castleton estate. He and the late earl, Bernard
Brynnwood, had been close friends despite their age difference, and when her
father had died, Bernard had set money aside each year for Matilda and
Florence to live on.
The earl had given them the use of Meadow Cross
cottage for life. He charged them no rent, and his only wish was that, weather
and health permitting, they would join him once a week for a nice dinner at
his grand house a short way across the field, beyond a small patch of woods.
Those dinners had always been enjoyable, and the old earl was as sweet to
her as any doting grandfather, despite the fact that she was not a blood
relation to him. But the earl had died two weeks ago, and their future was
now uncertain.
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