Heart of Honor Read Free Page B

tales of the Vikings and even learning some of their language. She and her father had practiced together, and because she wanted to please him, she’d worked hard to perfect her skills. She was educated far more than most women, and along with her ideas of social reform, had, like her father, developed a certain fascination with Norse life and culture.
    “You’ve a good deal of Viking blood in your veins,” he would say when she bemoaned her height and the fact that most of the men of her acquaintance were shorter than she was. “Your mother could trace her family lineage back to the Danes. You should be proud of your heritage.”
    Mostly, Krista just wished her appearance wasn’t quite so different from other women.
    Her father shuffled some of the papers on his desk, closed the book he had been reading and looked up at her. “I hear you and Coralee are going to the circus on Sunday.”
    “Would you like to come with us?” she asked, surprised by his interest.
    Her father chuckled. “Actually, I gave it some serious thought. I imagine you’ve heard about the main attraction. The man they call the Last Barbarian.”
    Krista laughed. “Yes, I gather he is part of the sideshow.” Now she understood. “He is supposed to be a Viking.” Anything Viking drew her father’s interest. “They say he stands over seven feet tall and is covered head to foot with thick blond hair.”
    The professor smiled and shook his head. “It is all nonsense, of course, spouted to increase the size of the crowd. Still, it might be interesting. They say he is a terrifying brute, worth the price of admission just to get a glimpse of him in one of his towering rages. Undoubtedly some poor creature escaped from Bedlam. Mad as a hatter, I’ll wager.”
    “Probably. But since you seem so interested, I promise I shall pay him a visit. He might make a good addition to Corrie’s article.”
    Her father nodded. “In the meantime, try not to light a fire under the rest of London’s male population.”
    Krista smiled. “I imagine my articles have just as many supporters as naysayers, Father. Perhaps even more.”
    “Perhaps. But most of them are in far less powerful positions.”
    That was true enough. It was men and women of the poor working classes who wanted improved conditions, not the wealthy manufacturers who would have to pay for them.
    Krista left her father’s office feeling a little uneasy at the notion. How far would men in power go to silence a voice that stood up for city sanitation and improving the awful conditions suffered by the working classes?
    It didn’t matter. Her course was set, and besides, the articles had increased the magazine’s circulation by more than twenty percent. Though most men frowned on the notion that women wanted to be kept informed, it was becoming more and more clear that the female population wanted exactly that.
    Heart to Heart would continue to move in that direction while also giving its readers the serialized fiction and society news they also enjoyed, Coralee’s domain.
    As Krista headed back downstairs to put the finishing touches on this week’s edition, she found herself looking forward to the day she would spend with her friend at the circus.

Three
    S unday arrived and Coralee Whitmore appeared at Krista’s front door exactly at the appointed time to pick her up for their outing to the circus. A brisk spring breeze cut through the air, while a weak sun shone down over the river where the circus had parked its wagons and set up its tents.
    Krista wore a short pelisse over her mauve-and-black-striped silk day dress, while Corrie wore a gown of aqua silk edged with rose braid, and a matching rose silk bonnet.
    “This is so exciting,” Corrie said, filled as always with what seemed to be boundless energy. “I’ve never been to a circus before, have you?”
    “Father brought me once when I was a little girl. It all seems different now.”
    But perhaps it was just this particular