A Mistletoe Kiss by Katie Flynn Read Free Book Online Page B

mam’s laundry money were safe. I did like your mam said an’ dragged her home by her straggly hair, for all she kicked and screamed.’
    Bill, reaching Hetty’s side, looked at her keenly. ‘What old woman?’ he asked. ‘Was it her gave you a thump?’ He laughed. ‘You’ll have a black eye by tomorrer, mark my words.’
    Hetty’s hand flew to her bruised cheek; it was tender to the touch. ‘Fancy you noticing, Bill!’ she said ruefully. ‘And no, it weren’t the lady I were with – who is not an old woman, you cheeky beggar – what hit me. It were three lads who must have guessed I were collectin’ laundry money. In fact it was the lady Gareth saw me with who scared them off.’
    â€˜Well blow me down, and her with only one good leg,’ Gareth said, his tone a mixture of admiration and amazement. He turned to Bill. ‘It were that old gal from the library – Limpy Liz they calls her.’
    â€˜Not in front of me they don’t, unless they want a bloody nose,’ Hetty said at once. ‘I tell you, she saw three fellers hemming me in and tripped one up and whacked t’others. She were really brave.’
    She expected her cousin to make some comment, for it was his mother’s money which the librarian’s prompt action had saved, but by now they had reached the back yard of No. 7 and Bill merely hurried her across it, shouting a farewell to Gareth as he hustled her in at the back door. ‘Here she is, Ma, and she’s stillgot your cash, as well as the linen for washing,’ he bawled cheerfully. ‘Gareth found her.’
    Aunt Phoebe, dishing egg and chips out on to the waiting plates, smiled at her niece, then put down her spatula and came across the kitchen, frowning. ‘You’ve got dirt on your cheek,’ she said accusingly. ‘Is it dirt? Or …’
    â€˜She got thumped …’ Bill was beginning when Hetty hastily cut across him.
    â€˜It’s all right, Auntie,’ she said quickly. ‘I nipped down a jigger,’cos it’s a short cut – I know you told me not to – and some fellers must have guessed I were collectin’ laundry money and tried to take it off me. But that Miss Preece from the library saw, and came to my rescue.’ She put the canvas bag full of dirty tablecloths and napkins down on the kitchen floor and smiled ingratiatingly at her aunt. ‘So no harm done, you see … oh, is that plateful for me? I’m that hungry I could eat a perishin’ horse.’
    â€˜It is,’ Aunt Phoebe said. ‘Well, if you’ve gorra black eye by Monday mebbe it’ll teach you to do as your elders and betters advise. Wash your hands, then you can dig in.’
    Her uncle, seated at the kitchen table, nodded approvingly. ‘Good gal, our Hetty,’ he said through a mouthful of egg. ‘You stick up for your pal. And Billy, don’t call names.’
    Happy to have escaped without a lecture – for she knew very well that she had nearly lost not only her aunt’s money but also the dirty laundry – Hetty sat down at the table and began to eat, reflecting as shedid so that it had been a good day. Tomorrow was Sunday, which meant church in the morning and Sunday school in the afternoon, but on the Monday she would tell Miss Marks that she had indeed visited the library and had been given permission to return there after school, even though she could not become a member without an adult’s signature. Finishing off her plateful with a large slice of bread and margarine, she could not help thinking how nice it would be if Miss Marks offered to sign the form for her, but she knew that such an action was very unlikely. If the teacher did it for her she would feel obliged to do it for others, and, as Hetty knew all too well, there were girls in her class who would have sold their library books to anyone willing to buy,