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She kicked his shin for that “You’re big, so what excuse have you got?”

“Fine, we’ll do it together”

“Fine But don’t call me little”

“Then don’t call me scared”

“Very well, then, Mr B”

“Very well, then, Miss A”

They sat staring angrily at each other for a while, until they started to feel a bit silly Out of danger for a few hours and shins had already been kicked

“I won’t tell Charlotte you were scared,” Anne sighed

“Well, I wasn’t, so good”

“But I’ Em”

Suddenly, all the color drained from Anne’s face

“Oh, Bran, you don’t suppose they’rethey’re not all right, do you? They will coht now, right this second They’ve been on their way this whole tiht?”

Bran’s chest went cold His stoer than Anne, and very far away from home He’d told Charlotte every day since he learned to talk that her being older didn’t matter the littlest bit because he was just as tall and clever and a boy besides And he meant it every time But it had siotten into any sort of trouble that his sisters couldn’t fix Of course they were all right The world would just fall off its axle if Charlotte and Eht But not so deep down, Branwell knew very well that two sisters could so easily vanish if you let theht for so much as one beat of their hearts

He couldn’t say that to Anne Not now He was the oldest He was the man of the house If he failed now, he’d never deserve another try

“Of course they are,” he said confidently And praised hi and even he sounded when he felt no bigger or stronger than one of those dolls “They’d be perfectly fine in a hellfire hurricane, so long as E to boss about”