Every day they spent in Brighton, some of the isolation and stress of Harry"s uncomfortable station seemed to slip away. Here, under a bright sun, kissed by sea breezes, the future seemed less bleak and hopeless. The eternal roar of the sea filled her mind with a sense of wistful expectation.
Here, the impossible seemed possible. Anything seemed possible. As she walked down the beach path with Fanny on the third day of their visit, Harry half-listened to her cousin"s piping chatter, focused instead on soaking in as much natural beauty as possible. Last night, she"d opened the little window of her tiny servants" room in the attic of the hotel and listened to the sea as she fell asleep. A salt-scented breeze had teased her into dreams of mermaids singing on rocks far out in the sea. A ship
