Belle's mouth dropped open at the girl's reaction. It wasn't the rudeness of the reply, although that stung. The sarcasm was like an icicle thrust into her heart, but even that was nothing compared to the bitterness in the teenager's voice. The angry tears that fell told a story far more poignant than any novel on Belle's book shelves. At first Bell was angry, but even as she reacted, saying "Well there's no need..." She stopped, and swallowed what she had been about to say. Taz wasn't angry at her<i>per se, </i>she was more angry at the hand life had dealt her. Belles shrugged then and felt a pang of guilt. Here she was living in luxury, and this kid, like so many others, was living below the poverty line. Bell hadn't heard the term 'Bridge Dwellers', and didn't understand the significance, but it was clear that the kid had very little. The report she'd asked for from her PI friend would be ready some time in the next week, and should make interesting reading. "Fine..." She sniffed and grimaced involuntarily. "First of all, you can clean my bathroom, and while you're in there, you can make use of the shower. Then you can do my laundry, and do your own while you're at it!" She paused and added, "I'll loan you a bath robe to wear while your clothes are in the wash."<br/><br/>She smirked and, taking a few steps towards a bookshelf, pulled a thick hardback volume from the shelf. "And as a punishment for your uncalled-for rudeness, you will listen as I read to you!" She opened the book, flipped past the introduction as she led the way to the bathroom. "Cleaning products are in that cupboard. You should probably wear rubber gloves, but I'll leave that up to you. Now then... " Leaving the bathroom door open she took a seat on a comfortable chair in the corridor outside it, and began to read from<a class="link link--external" data-proxy-href="/proxy.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.read.gov%2Fbooks%2Fpageturner%2Ftreasure_island%2F%23page%2F2%2Fmode%2F2up&amp;hash=15187c3ec65134439fa843e76f945dd6" href="http://www.read.gov/books/pageturner/treasure_island/#page/2/mode/2up" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">Stevenson's classic adventure novel</a>. "Chapter one, The Old Sea Dog, at the Admiral Benbow. Squire Trewlany, Dr Livsey and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace seventeen something, and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow Inn, and the brown old seaman, with the sabre cut, first took up his lodging under our roof."<br/><br/>Belle read clearly and slowly, enjoying re-reading a novel she herself had not picked up in decades. She paused from time to time, sometimes to get a drink for herself and once to get the bath robe she had promised Taz, in order to be able to insist that the girl strip herself naked and get into the shower.<br/><br/>By the time they were in the laundry, and Taz's filthy clothes were in the washing machine on a boil wash, while Belle's week's worth of dirty clothes were in the dryer, Belle was beginning to get to the more exciting parts of the novel. The brief fight between Black Dog and The Captain, she read as if for the first time herself, putting on voices in the Universal Pirate's Accent - Given that the novel is set in the West of England it's hardly surprising that most of the characters would speak with that accent, and in fact it is Treasure Island that has given rise to the use of Cornish, Devon and Somerset accents for pirates the world over in popular fiction.<br/><br/>"'Ten o'clock!' He cried. 'Six hours. We'll do them yet,' and he sprang to his feet.<br/>"Even as he did so, he reeled, put his hand to his throat, stood swaying for a moment, and then, with a peculiar sound, fell from his whole height face foremost to the floor.<br/>"I ran to him at once, calling out to my mother. But haste was all in vain. The Captain had be struck dead by thundering apoplexy. It is a curious thing to understand, for I had certainly never liked the man, though of late I had begun to pity him, but as soon as I saw that he was dead, I burst into a flood of tears. It was the second death I had known, and the sorrow of the first was still fresh in my heart."<br/><br/>Belle stopped and slipped a piece of paper from her pocket into the place in the book. "That's enough for now. It gets better, by the way."