Little Sparrow

Chapter Six

After a dessert of almond cake, we left the restaurant.

My stomach had never felt so full and I had never had so much fun in as long as I could remember. The Atkinson's continued to ask me questions throughout the rest of our meal, always about the smaller things like my birthday or my relationship with the other girls. Neither one of them broached the subject of my scar, although I knew they wanted to. Mrs Atkinson kept making signs of wanting to mention it, but a quiet hand from her husband told her not to. Perhaps one day I would tell them, but not yet.

We left the restaurant and stepped back out onto the London streets, the temperature appearing to have dropped considerably in the time we were inside. I pulled my shawl up a little tighter, glad for it since I knew how cold I would be without it. Mrs Atkinson stopped at several different stalls, purchasing little trinkets like earrings or a small, painted angel that she intended to put up nearer Christmas. She had spent time motioning to different things and asking if I may like something. I had yet to find something I would have liked to keep, and it did not feel right to ask them to pay for something else for me when they had already paid for a shawl and a meal.

I stood the left of Mrs Atkinson who had stopped at a small jewellery stall that seemed to sell more brooches than anything else. There were plain ovals, some shaped like butterflies and one, which I saw out of the corner of my eye, that looked like a small bird. Its wings were extended out to the side like it had been caught mid-flight and small jewels covered the entire body. I had never seen anything like it, something so small and delicate. I knew I could never own such a thing; it would be stolen within hours.

"What have you found?" Mrs Atkinson asked, peering over my shoulder. I watched her bend over me and grab the brooch, turning it over in her hand a few times. "It's gorgeous, and I think it would suit you rather well."

"How about it, Lizzie? A final gift from us?"

"Oh, no. I couldn't. It is far too expensive, and it will probably get stolen within two hours of me being back," I said.

"Perhaps you can keep it with us, that way it will not get stolen and it provides an excuse for us to see you again in the future."

"It is still too expensive."

"When it comes to gifts, money is no object."

I did not get the opportunity to protest any further. Mr Atkinson purchased the bird brooch along with a brooch shaped like a butterfly that Mrs Atkinson had been interested in. Both were wrapped in paper and placed in boxes which Mr Atkinson tucked into his pocket to keep safe. Although I liked the brooch, it would perhaps be the most extravagant thing I ever owned, I did not like the idea of the Atkinson's spending more on me than they already had.

Perhaps it was just me being the pessimist that Charity knew me to be, but I could not help but wonder that the Atkinson's were buying me all these things in order to bribe me into accepting their offer of adoption. I did not want to seem ungrateful. The shawl would come in handy back at the orphanage, but they had already spent an awful lot of money on me. They had wanted to get to know, and I did not quite understand how purchasing such expensive items fell into that category.

With the boxes safely stowed away in Mr Atkinson's pockets, we left the stall and continued our walk back through London. Before I knew it, dusk had started to fall, and we were on our way back to the orphanage. It had been nice to get out of the orphanage for a few hours and I would be lying if I said that I did not enjoy parts of the day, but I could not shake the feeling that they were trying to buy my favour with the gifts and the meal. I would have been fine simply wondering around London, anything else seemed excessive.