Bitter Eden by Sharon Anne Salvato Read Free Book Online

privacy and ownership that was not easy to attain in a room one would keep only for a night or two.
    Peter saw only the bed. He tested it, found it clean, and slumped onto it His eyes half closed, he said, "If we're going to get Miss Dawson, we'd better do it quickly. It will be dark soon, and that crowd will be drinking and carrying on all night."
    James silenced him with an impatient wave of his hand. "I'm not going on those streets again. Tomor-

    row's soon enough. Have you an objection to a good night's sleep?"
    "I thought she might be expecting us, but she couldn't . . ." His words trailed off, and he fought to stay awake.
    "Who knows what she expects?" James said. Til wager it's a good deal more than what she'll get. I imagine Ian's daughter will be thinking herself some sort of special little lady. Well, she'd better get that out of her head!" He growled. "She'll get along with the rest of us, and like itl"
    "I wonder if she's pretty?" Peter mused.
    "Makes no difference."
    Peter laughed. "Why'd you say you d give her a home if you don't want her?"
    James looked at him with blue eyes that betrayed the soft heart beneath his rough words. "You. Your mother. All her boo-hooing about a poor homeless child did me in. I told her if it was homeless children she wanted we could collect them by the score along the roads. But no, it had to be this one. You'd think she'd known the girl all her life, the way she carried on."
    "Perhaps she did."
    "Bosh! The Dawsons had nothing to do with Meg's part of the family. Anyway, Ian ran off years ago. He was an ungrateful pup . . . always chasing some pipe dream. More trouble than he's worth if you ask me."
    "Some claim he's Captain Swing," Peter said.
    "Well, with Ian de^d, Captain Swing will die too then—if he was the man. Might be a good thing. The rioting would end."
    "It won't," Peter said, his eyes closed again.
    "You seem sure of yourself. I've heard others claim that you're Captain Swing. It's not true, is it?"
    "Would you want me to tell you if it were true, Pa?"

    "My God, Peter, you're not!" "I didn't say I was. No one knows who he is." James started to sp^ak, then tossed his soiled shirt onto a chair. "I don't want to talk about that. No more tonight. I'm in no mood for it." James looked over to Peter when there was no response. He was sound asleep.

    Chapter 3
    While Peter and James enjoyed a long and dreamless sleep brought on by exhaustion, Callie Dawson spent another fretful, disturbed waking night. The month since her father had died had been a terrible one for Callie. She now found it difficult to believe that it would ever get better again.
    Her first taste of an unkind world had come with her father's death, but that was the kind of sorrow she knew to expect. People die, and though Callie would have given anything to have her father with her ag^in, she understood that. Her introduction to less comprehensible sorrow came later.
    The day after Ian was buried, Callie was alone in their flat. She had never felt so lonely or so inclined to cry and feel sorry for herself. When someone knocked on her door, she assumed it was her landlady, Mrs. Pettibone, for there was no one else likely to come to see her. She reacted with surprise and a little fright when she saw a poorly dressed, unshaven man standing in the hallway. "I . . . I'm sorry, but I think you

    have the wrong address," she said hesitantly. "I don t want to buy anything."
    The man put his dirty cap in his hand and gave her a broken-toothed grin. "I've nothing to sell. This is the place of Ian Dawson, isn't it?"
    "Yes, but . . ."
    "I knew him well." The mans grin grew broader. "Came to wish his girl well. That's you, isn't it?"
    "Yes."
    "Then I've got the right address, haven't I? Aren t you going to ask me in?"
    Callie stood back slightly, unsure. The man pushed the door wider and entered the flat.
    "I've never been in this part of it before," he said, looking around. 'Tan didn't do bad by himself, did he?" He