Free the maltese angel by Yelena Kopylova Page A

comes, dear, that comes. It's amazing how it springs on you, often brought to life by some little action or word.
    But it comes. "
    Would it come to her with regard to this man? At the moment she
    couldn't say; what she did say was, "I am not being swayed, Ward, by the promise of a long room in which I can dance, but rather because your sincere offer of marriage has made me hope that you could be
    right, that my tender feelings for you will grow into something
    stronger, and so with the hope that you will never regret having asked me, I promise you now to become your wife, whenever you wish it."
    She gasped as she was lifted from her feet and held so that she looked down at him, and as he slowly returned her to the ground, his hands, like his whole body, trembling the while, he muttered, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That was enough to frighten you off altogether. I'm like a
    bear. But, oh Fanny! Fanny! You'll never regret those words ever,
    not as long as either you and I live." And taking her face once more into his hands, he bent down and kissed her gently on the lips.
    The action was restrained, and she was aware of this;
    and impulsively she reached up her arms and put them around his neck; and when her lips touched his cheek he remained still. His own arms about her, he held her as gently as if she were some ethereal creature; which in reality is how he saw her.
    It was she who now said brightly as she straightened her hat, "Let us go and tell them."
    "Oh aye ... yes. But I don't think it will be any surprise. Well, it may be a surprise that you are going to take me on, but not that I've been breaking me neck for you over the past days. I know what Annie will say."
    "What?"
    "Tell me something I wasn't expecting."
    Hand in hand now, they ran back up the field; then through another, and skirted the back of the barns and so into the yard. But in the kitchen they came to a stop: there was laughter coming from the hall;
    and she whispered to him, "I know what's happening: the children are doing their turn. I ... I mean the dogs. But that's how Mrs. Killjoy sees them."
    When he opened the door into the hall, it was to see the surprising sight of Annie with her hand pressed tightly over her mouth, her body shaking with laughter, and Billy at her side, his head wagging like a golliwog;
    but more surprising still was the sight of the boy. He was smiling for the first time since he had come into the place; but more than smiling, he was gurgling as he watched the pretty white dog stagger down the hallway as if it were drunk; then fall on its back, its legs in the air, doing its turns as if on the stage;
    and when the little man bent over it, gently smacking its hindquarters as he scolded it, it rolled over twice before getting on its hind legs, its front paws wagging as it staggered down the room to where Mrs.
    Killjoy was waiting.
    Instinctively, Annie clapped; and so did little Billy;
    but the boy walked straight-faced across the hall to Mrs. Killjoy, and said, "May I pat him, ma'am?"
    "You can that, son. You can not only pat him, you can put your arms around him. But " he" is a she. She's a drunken little no-good. Come here with you!"
    She drew the dog towards her and, lifting it, put it in the boy's arms.
    And when the dog's tongue came out and licked his cheek, the boy
    actually laughed. But it was a strange sound, not like a laugh at
    all.
    But the sound changed quickly into a moan when Mrs. Killjoy clapped her hand on to his back; and when his arms opened and the dog slid from him, she said, "What is it, laddie? What is it?"
    "He's got a sore back, Mrs. Killjoy," Ward explained, walking up the room.
    "He's just new to us, but where he was last he was badly treated."
    "Never! Never! And him but a spelk of a child with no flesh on his bones."
    "True, Mrs. Killjoy. But come into the parlour and I'll show you something," Ward said, gently pushing the dog
    forward; and the company followed him, dogs and all.
    There, saying to Carl,