A Christmas Promise Read Online Free PDF Page A

Bertha interrupted soothingly. Her face was pinched, her eyes steady on Stan. “She were only ’elpin’.”
    “Well, yer shouldn’t bother folks,” Stan told Minnie Maude. “Yer looked. ’e ain’t around. Now do like yer told.”
    “’e’s lorst,” Minnie Maude persisted.
    “Donkeys don’t get lorst,” Stan said, and shook his head. “’e’s bin doin’ these streets fer years. ’e’ll come ’ome, or mebbe somebody took ’im. Which is stealin’, an’ if I find the bastard, I’ll make ’im pay. But that’s my business. It in’t yers. Now go and do yer chores, girl.” He looked at Gracie. “An’ you do yers, an’ all. Yer must ’ave summink ter do better ’n wanderin’ round the streets lookin’ fer some damn donkey!”
    “But ’e’s lorst!” Minnie Maude protested again, standing her ground even though she must have been able to see as well as Gracie could that Stan was angry. “’e weren’t wi’ Uncle Alf’s—”
    “Don’t talk nonsense!” Bertha snapped at her,putting the knife down and raising her hand as if she would slap Minnie Maude around the ears if she did not keep quiet. But it was not anger Gracie could see in her eyes. Gracie was suddenly, in that instant, quite sure that it was fear. She lifted her foot and gave Minnie Maude a sharp kick on the ankle.
    Minnie Maude gasped and turned sharply.
    “I’m lost an’ all,” Gracie said. “An’ yer aunt Bertha’s right, I got chores, too. Can yer show me which way I gotta go? If yer please?”
    Shoulders slumped again, wiping her face with her sleeve to hide the tears, Minnie Maude led the way out the back door, past Charlie’s empty stable, and into the street.
    “Yer right,” Gracie said when they were beyond where Bertha or Stan could hear them. “There’s summink wrong, but yer uncle Stan don’t like yer pokin’ inter it, an’ I think yer aunt Bertha’s scared o’ summink.”
    “She’s scared of ’im,” Minnie Maude said witha shrug. “’e’s got a nasty temper, an’ Alf in’t ’ere no more ter keep ’im in ’and, like. Wot are we gonna do?”
    “Yer gonna do yer chores, like I am,” Gracie replied firmly.
    Minnie Maude’s mouth pulled tight to stop her lips from trembling. She searched Gracie’s face, hope fading in her. She took a shaky breath.
    “I gotta think!” Gracie said desperately. “I… I in’t givin’ up.” She felt hot and cold at once with the rashness of what she had just said. Instantly she wished to take it back, and it was too late. “In’t no sense till we think,” she said again.
    “Yeah,” Minnie Maude agreed. She forced a rather wobbly smile. “I’ll go do me chores.” And she turned and walked away, heading into the rain.
    Gracie went to help Mr. Wiggins, as she did every other day, running errands and cleaning out the one room in which he lived, scrubbing, doing laundry, and making sure he had groceries. Hepaid her sixpence at the end of each week, which was today. Sometimes he even made it ninepence, if he was feeling really generous.
    “Wot’s the matter wif yer, then?” he asked as she came into the room from outside, closing the rickety door behind her. She went straight to the corner where the broom and the scrubbing brush and pail were kept. “Got a face on yer like a burst boot, girl,” he went on. “In’t like you.”
    “Sorry, Mr. Wiggins. I got a friend in trouble.” She glanced at him briefly with something like a smile, then picked up the broom and started to sweep. Her hands were so cold she could hardly hold the wooden shaft firmly enough.
    “’ave a cup o’ tea,” he suggested.
    “I in’t got time. I gotta clean this up.”
    “Yer ’ere ter please me or yerself, girl?”
    She stared at him. “I’m ’ere ter clean the floor an’ fetch yer tea an’ bread an’ taters.”
    “Ye’re ’ere ter do as I tell yer,” he contradicted.
    “Yer want the floor cleaned or not?”
    “I wan’ a cup o’ tea. Can you tell me