Red Stefan Read Free Page B

before his slow, deep breathing told her that he was asleep. The sound gave her a most perfect sense of safety. She thought how strange life was. A few hours ago she had been alone and in despair—most cold, most wretched, and most friendless. Now she was warm, and fed, and comforted. She had not really begun to think. She only knew that she felt safe. And so fell asleep.
    She woke with a hand over her mouth and a voice at her ear. It was Stephen’s hand and voice. He was saying “Ssh!” The lamp had been extinguished and it was quite dark. She ought to have been frightened, but she was not frightened at all. She blinked at the darkness and waited for Stephen to speak.
    He said “Ssh!” again. And then, “Did I frighten you? I hope I didn’t—but you were talking in your sleep.”
    He had taken his hand away from her mouth, but it rested on her shoulder. He felt the sudden upward leap of her heart. So she was afraid of what she might have said.… He cast his mind back over the soft, rapid utterance which had waked him. And then she was whispering on a scarcely audible breath.
    â€œWhat did I say?”
    He patted the shoulder reassuringly.
    â€œNothing at all—just rubbish. But it won’t do for the others to think there’s been a miracle in the night. You’ve got to go on being dumb, you know. Now look here, I’m sorry I had to wake you, but it isn’t worth while your going to sleep again. We’re pushing off before dawn. There’s a sort of wash-place along the passage. I’ll light a candle for you as soon as we’re outside. Don’t be longer than you can help.”
    In the passage he lighted an inch of candle which he produced from an inner pocket, showed her the way to the wash-place, and then went back into the room. When she returned, he beckoned her behind the sack and produced with pride a bowl of coffee-substitute, some black bread, and, wonder of wonders, a boiled egg. The coffee was scalding hot, and the egg tasted better than anything Elizabeth had ever eaten. She had seen eggs in the last year, but she had not tasted one. The old Petroff woman had occasionally had an egg. When she had gobbled it up she would throw the shell at Elizabeth and tell her to fatten herself on that.
    Elizabeth ate the egg and the black bread and drank the steaming coffee, and then sat on her straw bed and waited. Everyone in the room beyond seemed still to be asleep. They snored as noisily as animals. Elizabeth wondered how she had slept through such a chorus.
    Stephen was away for a little time. When he came back he held her coat for her, and then, taking down the sacking, he rolled up the straw bed in it, tied it deftly with the string of the line, and signed to her to take up the candle and precede him.
    At the street door he leaned his bundle against the wall and, taking the candle-end from her hand, blew it out, and after allowing a moment for the tallow to harden put it away in his pocket. Then the bundle was on his shoulder, and next moment they were out in the dark street.
    To Elizabeth the darkness was absolute, but Stephen seemed to have no difficulty in finding his way. He took her by the arm and marched her up the lane at a good brisk pace, and presently she could see where the houses ended and the sky began. The houses were black, but the sky was only a very, very dark grey. There was no light in any window, and no star in the strip of sky.
    They turned to the right and then to the left again. They were now out on the broad road which ran through the town. Elizabeth heard the sound of a horse shaking its head and the jingle of harness, and then they stopped just in time, as it seemed to her, to avoid running into a cart which was standing in the middle of the road. Someone moved in the dark and an old cracked voice grumbled.
    â€œA nice time you’ve kept me waiting! If your wife don’t get up any earlier than this, you’d