Love Is My Reason Read Online Free PDF

sound of a saucepan being moved on the stove beyond the curtain, and the quiet voices of Anya and the woman talking. Outside in the quadrangle there were shouts from the children playing there.
    Then at last he spoke, and all he could think of asking was, “ Does she herself know? ”
    The other man shook his head.
    “ Her father died before she was born. I married her mother —” He gasped for breath and evidently found it almost impossible to go on.
    But David had to know more, and almost impatiently he demanded,
    “ What is her real name, then? Is there anything to show who she really is? ”
    “ Tomorrow —“ the side man gestured helplessly —“ when you come—with your friend —”
    It was obvious that any more talk was out of the question, and, with the greatest reluctance, David was compelled to abandon further questioning. He got up. And then, on an impu l se for which he was ever afterwards thankful, he bent over the man and took his hand.
    “ Don ’ t worry, ” he said. “ I will see she is all right. ”
    A faint, flickering smile and the lightest pressure of his hand were the only signs of reply. And then David went out into the other part of the room, where Anya quickly came to him and accompanied him out into the corridor once more,
    “ What do you think of him, Herr David? ” she asked eagerly, and he found himself half charmed, half irritated by this intimate form of address.
    “ I am not a doctor, my dear, ” he hedged.
    “ But you could see something for yourself, ” she insisted.
    “ Well, you don ’ t need me to tell you he is very ill. I shall be glad when my friend has seen him. But — ” he groped for words in which to put what he wanted to say —“ possibly extra nourishment—he must need things. And you too. You must let me give you some money —”
    But he saw her lashes come down, shadowing her eyes, and she seemed in some way to withdraw from him.
    “ I did not ask you for money, mein Herr. ”
    “ No, I know that. ” He wished now that she would call him “ Herr David ” again. “ But one friend is always allowed to help out another friend on a special occasion. ”
    “ And we— ” the lashes swept up again— “ are friends? ”
    “ Certainly. ” He was emphatic about that, since it seemed the best way of making her accept the money.
    “ Then, in that case— ” she smiled shyly at him— “ I thank you very much. ”
    Feeling slightly self-conscious, he took out his notecase, abstracted three twen t y-mark notes and put them into her hand.
    “ That is a lot of money, ” she said gravely.
    “ No, not really. Take it, child. And you ’ d better come and spend some of it now, if we can find a food shop open. ”
    “ Oh, there is a shop open, quite near. A good shop, ” she added, with a dash of such excited colour in her cheeks that he felt horribly sure she had been hungry most of the day.
    “ Come along then, ” he said rather curtly because he was moved. And, after going back into the room to say a word to the woman, she very willingly accompanied him downstairs and out into the open air once more.
    Quite a crowd of children were now gathered round the car, and two or three men were also regarding it with not very friendly eyes. All scattered at the sight of David emerging from the building, and although he gave a brief smile round, only one or two of the children smiled in return.
    With Anya once more beside him, he drove slowly out of the wretched quadrangle, pausing again at the gate while she addressed a few more words to the man in uniform. Then, as they continued on, out into what David felt was the free world, she said,
    “ Tomorrow, when you come with your friend, you must tell the man at the gate that you want to speak to me. ”
    “ Then you must tell me your other name. ” David smiled. She looked surprised.
    “ Anya is sufficient. Everyone calls me Anya. ”
    “ But I don ’ t think I shall call you Anya to the man at the