Read The Birthday Present for Free Online Page B

driver negotiated a horse bus that had collided with an army wagon and said, ‘Sounds very pretty, miss. I’m sure you’ll look a real treat!’
    ‘Oh thank you! What a lovely compliment!’ Rose hoped Mr Bennley would take the hint. To make sure he did, she whispered, ‘What a nice man!’
    Instead of the desired result, Marcus Bennley looked put out and muttered ‘Nosy old devil!’
    They sat in silence for a while until Rose said, ‘So what presents did your sister have – apart from me, of course?’
    It seemed that Marie had been generously supplied with gifts. ‘She’ll want to show them to you herself, I expect,’ he told her. ‘But – look here, Miss Lamore – could we use our Christian names? It would be less formal and it is a party after all. What do you think?’
    Rose leaped at the idea. ‘Of course we can. I’ll be Rose and you can be Marcus – or is it Michael? My pa has got me all muddled.’
    ‘It’s Marcus.’
    ‘Right. Marcus.’ She gave him a beaming smile. ‘Oh, this is grand, isn’t it? I feel I know you all already.’
    When they drew up outside Victoria House Rose hid her surprise at the size of it and instead offered to give the driver her autograph but they had nothing to write on so the idea had to be abandoned.
    He said, ‘Never mind, Miss Lamore. I shall never forget you. Maybe when you’re famous you can give it to me then.’
    Minutes later Marcus had led Rose into the family home and a suitably bedazzled Marie was showing her the birthday presents which were arranged on a nearby table.
    ‘Look at these beautiful slippers, Miss Lamore!’
    ‘Please call me Rose.’
    ‘Rose? Thank you, I will.’
    ‘The slippers are delightful, Marie.’
    ‘Letitia, my sister, chose them for me because she knows I like fur and these have rabbit fur linings. They’ll be wonderfully warm in the winter  . . . and Steven, my lunatic brother, has given me a bottle of very, very expensive perfume and he said I am so sweet he wanted me to smell sweet! Wasn’t that romantic of him, Miss Lamore – I mean Rose? He’s not usually romantic – I mean, he’s just my brother – but I think it suits him.’
    Rose felt a tug at her heart strings. Would this lovely young woman live long enough to need warm slippers, she wondered, and how much perfume would she use before she died?
    ‘The gold bracelet is from Mother and I hope to go over and see her soon  . . . Mrs Bray, our housekeeper, knitted me a bed jacket in pale blue because she knows that I love blue. Here it is!’ She seized it from the table and held it up against herself. ‘What do you think, Rose?’
    ‘It’s perfect for you. I wish we had a clever housekeeper.’ Now a terrible thought struck Rose. She had not thought to bring a present. How could she have been so thoughtless! Stricken, she wondered frantically if she had anything about her that would make a suitable gift  . . . There was only one possibility and she hesitated. The parasol. Parting with it would be a wrench but she could buy herself another one with the money Marcus was going to pay her. Before she could change her mind she said, ‘My present to you is a secret at the moment but I shall give it to you later on.’
    ‘A secret?’ Marie’s eyes lit up. ‘Oh how exciting! I’ve always loved mysteries.’
    Just then a woman came into the large drawing room holding on to the arm of a handsome man and Rose guessed that this was probably Letitia and her fiancé.
    She was right. Letitia wore a slim dress of dark lace with a string of pearls at her neck and she bestowed a gracious look in all directions before greeting Rose. ‘I’m Marie’s older sister, Letitia,’ she told Rose, ‘and this is Bernard da Silva, my husband-to-be.’ Turning to him she said, ‘This is Miss Rosie Lamore, who will sing for us later. Her performance is Marcus’s birthday present to Marie. Wasn’t it clever of him, darling?’
    ‘Very clever, what!’ He took Rose’s