Glorious Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

turn and start back to the river. But before long he caught up to her.
    “I’ll walk you home,” he offered in a rather irritable voice, as if he felt he had to, but didn’t really want to.
    “I can manage, Mr. Maitland,” Angela replied, her chin tilted proudly.
    Bradford grinned. “I’m sure you can, Angel,” he said in a lighter tone. “But I feel responsible for you now.”
    “My—my name is Angela,” she stated in a strangely quiet voice.
    “Yes, I know. Now, where do you live?” he asked her patiently, his eyes warm.
    Her heart soared. He’d called her Angel on purpose!

    “I live on the other side of Golden Oaks.”
    “For heaven’s sake, why didn’t you tell me that to begin with? Come on.” He took her arm and led her back up the street to his carriage. “I was on my way to Golden Oaks before you—ran into me.”
    Bradford Maitland didn’t speak again until they had left the city and were traveling along the river road at a moderate pace. The road was deserted. The moon was hidden by dark gray clouds threatening rain. Blackness surrounded them as they rode along.
    “You were going to walk all this way?” Bradford inquired in a disbelieving voice.
    “It’s not that far.”
    “I know how far it is, Angela. I have walked it before, and it takes most of the day to do so. You probably wouldn’t have reached home until morning.”
    “I would’ve managed.”
    He laughed heartily at her confident reply, then asked, “How did you know my name?”
    “Why, you must have introduced yourself,” she replied nervously.
    “No, I didn’t. You know me, don’t you?”
    “Yeah,” she answered in a whisper, then added heedlessly, “How come you’re here in Alabama? You’re not spyin’ for the North, are you?”
    She was nearly unseated as Bradford jerked the carriage to an abrupt halt. Then he grabbed both her arms and turned her in the seat to face him.

    “Spying? Where did you get a notion like that, girl?”
    He sounded so angry that Angela was too frightened to speak. She could have cut out her tongue right then and there for making him angry.
    “Answer me!” he demanded now. “Why do you question my loyalty?”
    “I don’t question your loyalty, Mr. Maitland,” Angela said weakly. “I know you joined the Union Army last year.” She felt him stiffen and quickly added, “I thought it was a terrible thing when I heard, but now I don’t care anymore.”
    “Who did you hear this from?”
    “Hannah told me. She didn’t mean to, but it just slipped out.”
    “Hannah?”
    “From Golden Oaks. Hannah’s about the closest friend I got. You won’t be mad at her none for tellin’ me, will you? It’s not as if I told anyone. And I never will. I mean, I got no call to. This here war is crazy if you ask me. You fightin’ on one side and your brother on the other—it’s crazy. But you helped me tonight and I wouldn’t hurt you for the world. I won’t tell no one you’re a Yankee soldier—I swear.”
    “When you start talking, you talk a mile a minute, don’t you, Angela?” His tone was lighter now and he released her arms.
    “I just want you to know your secret is safewith me. You do believe me, don’t you?” she pleaded.
    He flicked the reins and they began moving again. “I guess I’ll have to. I suppose you think I’m a traitor?”
    “I don’t see why you had to go and join them Bluecoats,” she said sternly, then her face turned a bright pink. Luckily, it was too dark for him to see her embarrassment. “But I guess that’s your business.”
    Bradford’s amusement returned. “It’s quite simple, really. I’m not a Southerner. My family has only lived in the South for the last fifteen years. I lived up North before then, and for a while out West. Even after my father surprised us by buying Golden Oaks, and moved the family down here, I still spent most of these last years up North, in school, and on business. I don’t believe in slavery. More importantly, I