Steadfast Read Online Free PDF Page A

with her taking up the bunk, they were three places short of the number
     needed to sleep all of the unmarried men—for obviously they could not sleep in the
     same space as a strange, unmarried woman to whom they were not related. It was always
     possible that they would inadvertently cross paths with the circus, and the little
     troupe of Travelers could not possibly defend themselves against the mob of circus
     roustabouts Andy Ball would unleash on them. Worse, Dick would probably kill one or
     more of them, and the law would do nothing about it. She knew this. They knew this.
     This was only a respite until they got far enough away that it would be safe for Katie
     to buy a train ticket to somewhere further yet.
    But where?
    She decided to consult with old Mary one night before the matriarch went to sleep.
    For the first time, she was invited into the cupboard built at the back of the wagon
     that held the big bed that had once slept Mary and her husband and whatever baby she
     was nursing. It had a curtain across the end to close it off from the rest of the
     wagon, like the curtain across her shelf-bed. Right now the curtain was open, and
     Mary was tucked, cross-legged, with her back to the wall. Katie sat on the edge of
     Mary’s bed, on the faded quilt patiently patched out of the last bits and pieces of
     worn-out clothing, and waited as the Traveler pondered the question.
    “You must make your own way,” Mary said at last. Her old eyes were very bright as
     she regarded Katie shrewdly. “Yet your gifts are . . . not common. You could not work
     in a shop, or serve in a pub. While this could be a problem, it can also be of benefit.
     Uncommon gifts are sometimes in demand. But at the same time, you are no great dancer.
     You are very good, but I have seen great.” She nodded wisely, and Katie had to nod
     in return, if she were to examine herself honestly. Her heart sank. What was she to
     do? Where was she to go? Not another circus, certainly! Andy Ball would find out immediately
     if she joined another circus.
    But Mary was continuing. “You need a place where the circus will not go, because there
     is so much else there to entertain crowds that they will make a poor showing. Yet
     you need a place where there are
small
entertainments, where you might find a place.” She pondered again. “Brighton,” she
     said at last, with an air of finality.
    “Why Brighton?” Katie asked, quizzically. It was true that the circus had never gone
     there.
“Too much bloody competition,”
Andy had grumbled.
    “It is a seaside resort. Many small theaters. Many places like sideshow booths. Many
     opportunities for you. Surely one of them will take you. It is a place where you can
     even perform in the street, as we do, sometimes. For that you would need only yourself
     and a cloth for people to throw money.” Mary made the pronouncement as if it was already
     an accomplished fact, and really, Katie wasn’t inclined to argue with her. Her logic
     was sound.
    The walnut stain had already faded from her hands and face; the next day, under Mary’s
     instruction, Katie turned and mended her clothing until it not only looked respectable,
     but she probably could not be told apart (on the train at least) from a little country
     housemaid going on a well-earned trip to her family.
    The next town held a train station, with the line going straight to Brighton. To the
     Travelers, the signs could not have been clearer. Katie was meant to go to Brighton.
     And then they left her at dawn on the platform of the station with only the briefest
     of farewells.
    When the ticket-booth opened, she bought her one-way ticket to Brighton. The stationmaster
     in his official blue uniform seemed incurious, even though she wasn’t a native of
     this village and he certainly must have wondered where she had sprung from. But she
     sat quietly on the platform, holding the bundle that contained all her worldly possessions
     and the