In This Mountain Read Online Free PDF

“I’ve recently made a commitment, Cynthia and I will be going up to Tennessee to work with a children’s program, we’ll come back to Mitford most weekends, but…”
    “I hate to hear this.” He thought John sounded as if he might burst into tears. “I’m terribly disappointed, everyone agreed that I should call you at once. Is there any chance the other thing…could fall through, not work out?”
    “I don’t think so. I’m sorry, too, I would have liked…”
    John sighed. “Well, then, we’ve got to dig deep over here and reset our thinking. Ah. Well, then. Darn.”
    He thought the director seemed fairly stricken. It’s not the end of the world , he wanted to say. “It’s gracious of you to ask, John, I’m flattered, really.”
    And he was. He felt a spring in his step as he went down the hall to Cynthia’s studio and sat on her small love seat and told her what they’d just turned down.
    She came and sat in his lap and kissed the top of his head and hugged him, wordless.
    Dear Stuart:
    I’ve just recalled that Mahatma Gandhi said, “First they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
    In His brotherhood ,
    Timothy
    “Father!”
    Hélène Pringle dashed across the driveway and into the yard of the yellow house. He observed with some fondness that she bobbed when she dashed, rather like a small hare across an open field.
    She clutched a parcel in her hands, which she transferred to his. “Bread!” she exclaimed, huffing a bit. “Just baked. I hope you and Cynthia will enjoy it.”
    “Thank you, Hélène!” The seductive warmth of the loaf seeped through the brown bag. “I just might eat the whole thing standing right here!”
    His neighbor laughed with childlike merriment. What a transformation had occurred in this small, once-faint-hearted Frenchwoman who had moved next door from Boston two or three years ago. He hardly ever thought of it now, but they’d gotten off to an exceedingly rough start—Hélène had not only stolen a valuable bronze off his mantel, she’d sued him for big bucks—and all the while living in and renting his house. Thank heaven he’d dropped his charges, she’d withdrawn the lawsuit, and he and Cynthia now had the finest neighbor on God’s green earth. In truth, Hélène Pringle had grown in grace and stretched her wings considerably.
    “Warming up!” he said of the weather, and was glad to hear such words from his mouth.
    “ Oui! J’adore le printemps! Oh, excuse me, Father, I always speak French when I’m excited!”
    “I saw Françoise yesterday, she looks strong and happy.” Hélène had managed to bring her mother from Boston and install her at Hope House, where, though plagued by several complications of heart disease, she was flourishing.
    “Mother loves your visits, Father, thank you for all you and Cynthia do for us. One day, I promise I shall repay you in some important way. Absolument! ”
    “Don’t even think it! Merely observing your happiness here gives us a double portion.”
    “Three new students, Father! That’s fifteen, now, and I think I mustn’t accept more. I never thought I’d be able to say such a thing.” Hélène consulted her watch. “ Ça, par exemple! It’s nearly time for Sophie Hawthorne’s eleven o’clock.”
    Hélène’s piano teaching had introduced a pleasing new dimension to Mitford. He felt personally proud of her success, though he’d had nothing at all to do with it.
    “Please help yourself to your roses when they bloom, Father, I must tell you I’m grateful to live in the home of a gardener! Well, à bientôt !”
    “ Au revoir , Hélène! Oh, and merci !” He estimated that his French vocabulary now included a whopping ten or twelve words.
    She gave a fluttering wave, then darted across the driveway and over the lawn of the rectory and up the steps. He smiled. Precisely like a hare!
    As he walked into the hall from the front door, he observed his wife standing by the living room