Read "The Real Lady Hilda" by B.M. Croker online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
On Christmas morning, Emma complained of a cold and a sharp pain in her chest. She did not venture to church, as it was a bitterly bleak day, but nursed herself up for the evening, declaring that in a snug brougham, with furs and a foot-warmer, she could brave Greenland itself. Mrs. Gabb and family were also spending the evening abroad.
"Hearing as you was dining and sleeping at the Abbey, ma'am, I take the liberty of leaving you," she explained. (It was not the first liberty she had taken.) "I'll have everything ready-candles and coal and hot-water-to last till half-past seven. We-Gabb and me and the children and Annie-are invited to my sister's for six o'clock, and she lives a good bit the other side of the town. But, if it will inconvenience you, I'll leave Annie to help you to dress, or anything."