Little Sparrow

Chapter Twenty-Nine

When Mrs Oliver left, I returned to my room to change out of my dress.

I left it draped over the armchair before going downstairs to join William in the living room. Mr and Mrs Atkinson had gone elsewhere, no doubt to discuss how they were going to push William for his comments over luncheon. They did not appear like the type who would just let something like that go, especially as it had been quite rude, and William did not hold back. I dropped down beside William and knocked his legs off the table.

"What did you do that for?" he asked.

"No feet on the table," I said.

"You sound like Mother."

I rolled my eyes. "And you're annoying."

"Do you think I broke Mrs Oliver?"

"Probably. You were a little harsh."

"It needed to be said, she has never had to face the consequences of her actions before and it was time someone held her accountable. Mother has been wanting to say something like that for years, but she never could."

"Still, you could have just asked her to stop."

"Like she would listen to me. If it stops her attacking you for the scar and the hair-"

"And you for the pointy ears."

"Exactly. Then it was worth it."

William looked at me and shrugged, sinking lower into the chair and throwing his legs up onto the table again. I made no attempt to knock them off this time and just sat there, gazing up at the painting on the wall and trying to decide whether William had been right. What he said had been harsh and insulting, but Mrs Oliver had been the one to spend the entire luncheon picking on other people, including me. She deserved for someone to have a word with her, but not like that.

I thought there were better ways of explaining how unfair she was being to tear into her the way William did. It made him no better than she was as far as I was concerned regardless of whether he had been trying to defend me or not. William found fault with what Mrs Oliver had been doing in the same way she had been doing to us since she had arrived for luncheon and even before that. It hardly seemed fair to address her that way when he would have been far easier and better for him to address her politely.

Still, I did not say anything and neither did Mr and Mrs Atkinson. I expected them to tell William off and punish him for what he had done but they did not, they just ignored it. They continued on as though nothing had happened, throughout supper and when we went to bed nothing was said, or even mentioned in passing. Perhaps they did not feel the need to bring it up when I had been around and would deal with the matter privately, but even then, I did not hear them approach William's room. They did not mention it at all.

Even the next morning, when I woke up knowing I had to show James my dress and that I would be returning to the orphanage the next day, it did not appear to have been addressed. We sat at breakfast following the usual routines of William eating his weight in bacon, Mrs Atkinson picking at her food and Mr Atkinson not eating a thing. It was as if the events at luncheon had never happened and perhaps that would be the best way of handling it. They did not come across as the punishing type and decided it would be better to just pretend it never happened.

"I thought we might put the Christmas decorations up today," Mrs Atkinson said. "As you have to go and see James to show him your dress, we could get ourselves a Christmas tree."

"Sounds great," William said.

"A little early, don't you think Lydia?"

"It's never too early. Besides, it's Lizzie last day with us before she returns to the orphanage and I think it is only fair that she takes part in it with us."