How Like an Angel Read Free Page A

concealed a yawn. “Now I’d better be on my way.”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œSan Felice.”
    â€œIt’s almost fifty miles. How will you get there?”
    â€œWalk back to the road and hitch another ride,”
    â€œYou won’t find many cars. Most people going to San Felice prefer to take the long way around, by the main high­way. And once the sun goes down, cars aren’t so likely to stop for a hitchhiker, especially in the mountains. Also, the nights are very cold.”
    Quinn studied her for a minute. “What’s on your mind, Sister?”
    â€œWhy, nothing. I mean, I’m concerned with your welfare. Alone in the mountains on a cold night, with no shelter, and wild animals roaming about—”
    â€œWhat are you leading up to?”
    â€œWell, it occurred to me,” she said carefully, “that we might find a simpler solution. Tomorrow morning Brother Crown of Thorns will probably be driving the truck to San Felice. Something’s gone wrong with our tractor and Brother Crown has to buy some new parts. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you rode along with him.”
    â€œYou’re very kind.”
    â€œNonsense,” she said with a frown, “it’s pure selfishness on my part. I don’t want to lie awake worrying about a tender­foot wandering loose around the mountains. . . . We have a storage shed you can sleep in. There’s a cot in it, and a couple of blankets.”
    â€œAre you always this hospitable to strangers, Sister?”
    â€œNo, we’re not,” she said sharply. “We get thieves, vandals, drunkards. We handle them as they deserve.”
    â€œHow is it I get the royal treatment?”
    â€œOh, it’s not very royal, as you will find out when you try sleeping on that cot. But it’s the best we can offer.”
    From somewhere nearby a gong began to ring.
    â€œPrayers are over,” Sister Blessing said. For a few seconds she stood absolutely still, her right hand touching her fore­head. “There. Well, we’d better get out of the kitchen now. Sister Contrition will be coming to start the fire for supper and it makes her nervous to have a stranger around.”
    â€œWhat about the others?”
    â€œEach Brother and Sister has a special task until sundown.”
    â€œWhat I meant was, how do the others feel about having a stranger around?”
    â€œYou will be treated with courtesy, Mr. Quinn, to the extent that you display it yourself. Poor Sister Contrition has many problems, it might be wise to avoid her. It’s the schools. She has three children and the authorities keep insisting she send them to school. And what would they learn in school, I ask you, that the Master can’t teach them here if it’s fit to learn?”
    â€œIt’s a subject I’m not prepared to take sides on, Sister.”
    â€œYou know, for a minute when I first saw you, I thought you might be one of the school authorities.”
    â€œI’m flattered.”
    â€œYou needn’t be,” Sister Blessing said brusquely. “They’re an officious, thick-headed lot. And the trouble they’ve caused poor Sister Contrition you wouldn’t believe. It’s no wonder she has as much difficulty with spiritual vibrations as I have.”
    Quinn followed her outside. Brother Tongue of Prophets was dozing in his rocking chair under a madrone tree, little patches of sunlight glistening on his shaved head.
    A short broad-shouldered woman came around the side of the building followed by a boy about eight, a girl a year or so older, and a young woman of sixteen or seventeen. They wore identical gray wool robes except that those of the two younger children reached just below the knees.
    They went silently into the communal eating room, with only the young woman giving Quinn a brief questioning glance. Quinn returned the glance. The girl was pretty, with brilliant brown eyes and