The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr Read Free Book Online Page A

well. The Germans make me nervous.” He shrugged. “Well, I suppose they make everyone nervous. For all the reasons you mentioned earlier.”
    Kalinka nodded, thinking she understood what the old man was too ashamed to come right out and say to her face.
    “It’s all right. I’ll be on my way in just a minute, just as soon as I’ve finished this lovely tea. I wouldn’t like to get you in any trouble.”
    “What are you talking about?” said Max. “You can’t go anywhere on a night like this. You’d die of exposure.”
    “You really mean it? I can stay the night? Here? With you?”
    “Stay the night and as long as you want, my girl. You’re very welcome here.”
    “But I thought—what I mean is—well, everyone else I’ve been to for help since I left Dnepropetrovsk has told me to go away. And not as politely as that. They all said it was too dangerous for me to stay and drove me off with stones. Even when I was just sleeping in their barns or in their hayricks. Some of the local villagers set their dogs on me. Fortunately, I’ve always been good with dogs, so they didn’t bite me.”
    She leaned down and patted Taras, who turned and licked Kalinka’s hand as if he recognized someone who needed to feel some affection.
    “You mean the villagers around here?”
    Kalinka nodded. Before the old man had given her the chocolate, it had been months—perhaps longer—since anyone had shown her kindness.
    Max sighed and shook his head. “It’s true. And I know to my own cost that when people are afraid, they can be very cruel.”
    “The Germans bring that out in people,” she said. “You are taking a risk, having me here; you know that, don’t you? It might cost you very dearly.”
    “You let me be the judge of that, Kalinka.” Max shrugged as best as he was able, with his neck the way it was. “Besides, if charity cost nothing, the world would be full of philanthropists.” He poured her some more tea—only this time, he put an extra teaspoonful of jam in it.
    “That’s what my grandfather used to say, too.”
    “I like the sound of him,” said Max.
    Kalinka was quiet for a moment, and Max could see that he’d upset her by the mention of her grandfather again, so he quickly changed the subject.
    “Look here, it seems obvious to me that you should live here at Askaniya-Nova,” said Max. “For as long as you want. My wife disappeared or ran away a long time ago—I’m never quite certain which—and we never had a daughter of our own, although she should have liked one. Since you no longer have a father, or even a grandfather, it seems to me you’re quite free to choose a replacement. I know I’m not much to look at, Kalinka. But looks aren’teverything, they say. I should be more than honored if you were to live with me. For a spell, at least. Until you decide what you want to do.”
    Kalinka looked around the little cottage and thought for a moment. “But is it safe? I thought you said there was a German officer who stopped by here to water his horse sometimes. I doubt he’s going to believe it if you tell him your niece has turned up to live with you. I have no papers. Suppose he asks for them. He’d be suspicious.”
    “That’s true. Actually, I was thinking that I could hide you in an old waterworks nearby that was built by the old baron—he’s the man who used to own the land around here—years ago, long before you were born. You and the horses, come to think of it. We’ll have to hide them as well, won’t we? That is, if they’ll stay put. You, I think, we can trust to lie low, but about them, I’m not so sure. They’re wild animals, after all, and don’t like being in an enclosed space. I’m not at all sure those two—Temüjin and Börte—will still be in that stable in the morning.”
    “They’ll stay. I’m sure of it.”
    “You seem to have made friends with them very quickly,” said Max. “All my life I’ve known these horses. And they never followed me