Endure My Heart by Joan Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

so steady too that we became quite a favored crew in London. I paid Sir Elwood Ganner, Bart., off his five hundred pounds. He cautioned me that certain official folks in London were becoming irate at my success, but I thought it was only professional jealousy that I was performing better than he had done himself. With the chief official of the town in my pocket, and with a fool of a revenueman half in love with me, I foresaw no immediate difficulties in my path.
    Edna poured an unending stream of mournful prognostications over my head, but I felt strong, clever, unbeatable. I almost regretted the ease of it. It would be more exciting if we had a smarter foe than Crites to deal with. It never occurred to him anyone would be horrid enough to hide brandy in a church. He returned several times to the school, then reverted to the inn, the warehouse and the old places of hiding. I spoke to him most civilly when we met, even let him take the idea I admired him. “Did you not catch the smugglers at the school, Officer?” I asked him one day.
    “No, I was mistaken about the school, Miss Anderson. It must have been an apple you smelled after all. They never did show up.”
    “They have heard you are on to them, Officer, and didn’t dare go back when they knew they must have you to contend with.”
    The rabbit teeth jutted forth in pleasure. I am convinced men are conceited enough to believe anything. He actually believed he was feared by the smugglers, and admired by me. I hardly knew which joke was funnier. “They’ll not be using your school if they know what’s good for them,” he boasted.
    Andrew came down with a bad cold, which troubled his sleep. I expect it was the hours spent in that drafty gallery playing the organ that caused it. The result was that he complained one Monday morning of hearing noises at his back window, which is, unfortunately, above the crypt. It was necessary to use the school again for a spell after this. I wanted to have a key made up for Jemmie, and it was this that led to my trip to London, for I would not have it made locally. This was not the only reason, of course, nor even the main one. The piles of gold heaping under my petticoats had something to do with it. I wanted a chance to spend some of it, and put some in the bank.
    I don’t mean to say I never spent a shilling previous to this. I gave some to charity in nefarious ways. Sukey Millar, whose mama is a grass widow with three children, went home more days than one with a guinea hidden in her coat pocket, and never suspected its source, nor ever questioned it either. Its final use was visible in a better coat on the children’s backs, and better lunch in their baskets. I was practically the sole support of Mrs. Kiley (mother to a parcel of red-haired adulterine children, you may recall). As the sister of the rector it was not unexpected I should befriend her. It was a thankless task, for she had no management, but as often as I could attend to it, she had food in her cupboards at least. Indigent callers to the rectory were given a couple of shillings by Andrew, and a couple of pounds, “saved from the household money” I told them, from myself.
    This may be an ineffective way of performing charity, but it is a highly satisfying one. Money put into an institution will be dissipated in no visible way, but to give cash to a poor man and see him walk down the street and turn into a shop gives a warm feeling in the heart. With a job myself now and Andrew’s position, that we had a little money to spare was not remarkable. I also fixed up the rectory in a way to please me. Andrew did not have to be accounted to for anything, as he never noticed if a new chair was in the saloon or a new lamp on the table. He was perfectly oblivious to his surSroundings, which was very convenient.
    But of course if I were to vanish for two days, he would notice it, so I had to invent a pretext for a trip to London.
    “I am going to pay Cousin Dora a short