Billy gulps before asking, “Does she know?”
“That you’re learning to be a lady?” Mrs Postlethwaite asked as she placed a straw boater on his head. The boy nodded then looked up at the brim of his hat. “Of course. I wrote to her at Christmas and told her all about it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Billy asked. Mrs Postlethwaite claimed that she simply assumed that he was aware that his mother knew. She reminded him about the paper dolls he was given for his birthday, and that he’d sent his mother a newspaper clipping that shows him taking part in the May Day celebrations. “What did she say?” he asked in a bemused and whiny voice.
“Well at first she asked lots of questions but she soon came round to my way of thinking.” Mrs Postlethwaite told the boy as she picked a stray thread from his gymslip.