Little Sparrow

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I woke up early the next morning to finish the cloth doll.

When the sun just started to stream in through the window, I pushed the blankets off and shuffled to the centre of the room where a single sunbeam lay on the floor. I stitched on the new piece of fabric, ensuring that the stitches were tight enough that they were unlikely to unravel any time soon. Once that was in place, I went back over the other stitching and started to replace as much of it as possible. I even stitched on the rest of the mouth, so it no longer looked like a strange, lopsided face.

By the time I could hear William moving around the hallway, whistling his usual tunes to himself as he went, I had finished the cloth doll as best I could. Not wanting to spoil the surprise for Christmas, I put the cloth doll on top of the table and resolved to move it if he happened to appear in my room again. I wanted to give him the cloth doll before I went back to the orphanage as I did not know if I would have the time to do any later than that.

I pushed myself off the floor and left the thread on the chair with the fabric before leaving the room and going downstairs to breakfast. The Atkinsons liked their breakfast routine and I enjoyed knowing what to expect every morning. It never deviated from the norm and even William did not deviate from his usual stack of bacon which he managed to devour in a matter of seconds. Breakfast was the only thing that felt normal.

That morning, I watched William eat his mound of bacon, Mr Atkinson eats nothing but just drink his tea and read his paper, and Mrs Atkinson eating a little but not much. A low knock at the door caught Mrs Atkinson's attention and I listened to the sound of footsteps down the hall. The door creaked open and I heard the low hum of conversation before the door closed and the footsteps came back down the hall. Mrs Langdon appeared in the doorway with a white envelope.

"A letter, Mrs Atkinson," she said.

"Thank you, Mrs Langdon." She accepted the letter and small, silver letter opener which she handed back to Mrs Langdon who then turned and walked away.

William sat up expectedly, I do not know what he thought the letter would include and why it may involve him, but it caused him to stop eating the bacon. Mrs Atkinson's eyes ran over the letter and I watched her face change with each new word she read. By the time she was done, her lips were pursed together, and she looked less than impressed with the contents of it.

"Mrs Oliver has taken it upon herself to invite her and Sophie to luncheon. Today," Mrs Atkinson said.

"Why on earth would she do that? I was under the impression that she did not plan on returning after the last luncheon she spent with us," Mr Atkinson asked.

"I have no idea. I shall have to inform Mrs Langdon and Shelia that we have an extra guest." She turned to look at me. "How is that dress of yours coming along? I doubt Jane knows you are still with us and I believe that dress may elevate her opinion on you. That it would be rather amusing to see her face when she sees it."

"It's almost done," I said. "Just have a few more flowers to stitch onto it."

"Excellent. They won't be here for another four hours which should be plenty of time. Why don't you excuse yourself from the table and go and finish it? William will come and let you know when they are here."

"Very well."

I pushed my plate away from me and stood up from the table, leaving the Atkinson family to mull over why Mrs Oliver would invite herself to luncheon. Their voices carried up the stairs and I thought I heard my name being thrown into the mix, but I may have just misheard since I was half-way up the stairs when they mentioned it. Still, I could not shake the feeling that there was a little more to me finishing the dress then met the eye.