Here Comes a Candle by Jane Aiken Hodge Read Free Book Online Page B

then, if something goes wrong—or, more often, for no reason one can understand—she starts to scream. It goes o n and on: she ’ s like a mad thing. Biting, kicking, scratching. My little Sarah who wouldn ’ t hurt a butterfly. I don ’ t really blame the girls we ’ ve had for leaving. I won ’ t blame you. ” He paused, remembering all his own doubts about her. On the Madison, he had been afraid she might sink into a state almost like Sarah ’ s. But, after all, she had not quite broken down, and therein, for what it was worth, lay a gleam of hope. Might she not, perhaps, understand Sarah out of a ki nd of fellow feeling? Searching for a scrap of comfort as much for himself as for her: “ Did you know you were singing in the coach? ” he asked abruptly.
    “ Singing? Oh, dear: Greensleeves! It seemed to go with the motion, but I thought no one could hear me. ”
    “ Don ’ t apologize. I like it. And if you ’ ll just sing to Sarah ... You sing as if you cared And she loves music. I ’ ve seen her, when my wife has guests, creeping as near as she dared to the door of the room, just to listen. Her face comes alive again ...” And then, with one of his sudden changes of subject: “ You must let me exchange your English money for you. I shall be able to get a better rate than you would . ”
    “ Thank you. ” She had not wanted him to know just how little she had . “ But will you be able to? ”
    “ Able? Oh—you mean because of this war? I ’ ve told you before, Mrs. Croston, we don ’ t believe in it in Boston. I reckon there ’ s about as much English money as American circulating in town right now. When you came through Lower Canada, you must have heard of the lively trade in provisions that goes on between there and Maine. I ’ m not sure I ’ d do it myself, but some of my friends say they ’ d rather hold the En glish Government ’ s bills than our own. ”
    “ But that ’ s treachery! It ’ s as bad as Benedict Arnold! ”
    He laughed. “ You should hardly be calling him a traitor, Mrs. Croston. After all, he betrayed my country to yours. But what I ’ m trying to explain to you is that this isn ’ t like that war. This is just a mistake, an absurdity that our two countries have been lured into by Napoleon. He ’ s the enemy. He ’ s the one we ought to be fighting, side by side, like the friends and relatives we really are. You ’ ll see: there ’ ll be peace before the year is out . ”
    “ I wonder ... Do you remember something you said to that militia captain at York? It struck me at the time. ‘ The fires you ’ ve lit today, ’ you told him, ‘ will be laid for sometime, in blood and tears. ’ ”
    “ Did I really say that? ” He looked back at the absurdity with humorous resignation— “ I was provoked that day: upset you might call it, by poor old Mac ’ s death. All nonsense, of course. You ’ ll see, Mrs. Croston. And, in the meanwhile, you ’ ll let me change your English money into dollars. Not that you ’ ll need them. ” Had he sensed her anxiety? He was sometimes disconcertingly acute. “ We live mostly out at Penrose—Sarah exclusively so. You will have no expenses there. Arabella uses the Boston house a good deal: for parties, the theater ... I prefer Penrose myself. Well, the manufactory is there, for one thing. ”
    “ Yes. ” She was too tired to speak. He had warned her that it would be a long day crossing the Green Mountains, and she was beyond enjoying the rolling panorama of field and river when they reached the top of Mount Hancock, almost beyond thought when they arrived, at last, at Northampton.
    “ Another long day tomorrow, I ’ m afraid. ” Jonathan helped her to alight stiffly from the coach. “ But home at the end of it. ”
    Home? Not hers. Kate shivered a little as she followed him into the main room of the inn, which she had learned to call the news room. She was used by now to the routine of waiting with the baggage while