Wakestone Hall chapter sampler

were all very fiddly, and her fingers were numb with cold. She managed to do them up at last, and then she brushed her hair and plaited it and tied the ends of the plaits with ribbon. She pushed her feet into her house shoes and tied the laces. The breakfast bell rang, and everyone hurried to stand in line. Miss McCragg stood at the top of the stairs and inspected them as they filed down to the dining room. She looked furious. She rapped a girl on the head. ‘Go back and brush that hair,’ she said. She twitched a collar flat with a jerk that almost pulled the girl off her feet. She poked her stick at the shin of a girl with a wrinkled stocking, making her squeak. Stella and Agapanthus and Ottilie were last of all. Miss McCragg glared at them as they passed, but all she said was, ‘Hurry up,’ and tapped her stick on the floor impatiently. Downstairs in the dining room, the kitchen maids were dumping big platters of bread and jam and chipped, mismatched plates onto the tables. There were little outbreaks of whispering all around the room. Usually, jam was a treat allowed on Sundays, and only then if a girl’s conduct had been impeccable, and she had been sent a pot from home. ‘No horrible porridge today, because all the bowls were smashed,’ whispered Agapanthus, as they took their places, standing behind their chairs.

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