No Peace for Amelia by Siobhan Parkinson

was really far too big for, his face turned away from the company, and only the gleam of his hair showing, gold against her navy-blueshoulder. Papa was pacing up and down, shaking his head from time to time.
    As soon as Mary Ann came into the room, she spoke quickly and firmly:
    â€˜I’m very sorry for all the trouble I’ve brought on this house, but yous needn’t worry about any such a thing happening again, because I’m going to leave. I’m sorry I can’t give you the proper notice, but I know yous won’t want me to stay another night in yer house, so I’ll just leave quietly now.’
    For a moment, there was silence in the kitchen, broken only by Edmund’s soft sighing.
    Then Papa spoke: ‘Don’t be absurd, girl. We haven’t a notion of letting you go.’
    Mary Ann looked disconcerted.
    â€˜Certainly I can work a week’s notice, Sir, if you prefer ,’ she said proudly.
    â€˜No!’ The volume of Papa’s assertion seemed to surprise even himself. He continued more gently: ‘Mary Ann, we don’t want notice.’
    â€˜That’s fine, so,’ said Mary Ann. ‘I’ll just finish my packing and go in that case.’
    â€˜Mary Ann, Mary Ann,’ said Papa in exasperation. ‘What I am trying to say is that we want you to stay. We are very angry about what happened here today, but it is not you we are angry with. We know you wouldn’t even dream of doing the sort of things these people had in mind. We all know it wasn’t your fault.’
    Mary Ann slid her eyes around to meet Amelia’s, in shamefaced acknowledgement that she had certainly, at the very least, dreamt of betraying the trust of the Pim family, but Amelia just gave her a friendly little smile in return.
    Suddenly there came a muffled wail from Edmund, his face still buried in Mama’s shoulder: ‘It’s my fault!’
    Everyone turned to look at him, but all they could see was the crown of his head.
    Mama caught hold of a fistful of his fringe and gently prised his head back, so that she could look into his eyes, but he kept them tightly shut.
    â€˜It’s me they’re angry with!’ he wailed again. ‘It’s all my fault, not Mary Ann’s.’
    And he suddenly opened his eyes, jumped off his mother’s knee and ran to Mary Ann.
    â€˜I’m sorry, Mary Ann,’ he said, looking up at her. ‘I swapped my best engine for it. I thought I wanted it. This big boy had it at school, and everyone thought it was great, and I thought I wanted it. But I don’t want it any more.’ He shoved his toy gun at Mary Ann. ‘You can give it to your brother if you like. I think he likes guns.’
    This was the first Papa had seen of the gun. He looked in consternation at his son.
    â€˜Edmund!’ he said sternly. ‘That is not the sort of toy you are allowed to have.’
    â€˜No, Papa,’ said Edmund. ‘I’m giving it to Mary Ann’s Patrick now. He’s allowed. I shouldn’t have had it. That’swhy the bad men came. I don’t know how they knew, though.’ And his tear-stained face scrunched up in puzzlement . ‘I always kept it hidden.’
    â€˜Why did you hide the gun, Edmund?’ asked Mama.
    â€˜Because I shouldn’t have had it.’ Edmund was looking at his boots. Mary Ann looked at hers too, in silent sympathy. It might have been she who had been caught out like this – and it wouldn’t have been with a toy. Amelia looked uncomfortable too, and tried to suppress an image of Frederick in uniform.
    â€˜And why not, Edmund?’
    â€˜Because we are a Quaker family, and we don’t like guns.’
    â€˜And why not? Why do Quakers not allow guns in their houses, even toy ones?’
    â€˜I don’t know, Mama.’ Edmund continued to regard his boots, as if they were the most interesting footwear ever made.
    â€˜Well, Edmund,