The Christmas Spirit Read Online Free PDF Page A

bank for your society."
    "But--" This was not how her plan was supposed to work. "Wouldn't you rather see the almshouse for yourself? How do you know I am not a fortune-hunter?"
    "I did not promise you a fortune, Miss Meriwether. Only a subscription."
    "But--" As he handed her a slip of paper, Trudy tried to think of some other enticement, but she couldn't think fast enough. She looked at the signed draft for a generous twenty-five pounds. "I might be a thief all the same. You cannot know if you don't come to visit the almshouse."
    "You do not look much like a thief to me," Matthew said with a slight grin. "Although"-- his smile faded--"I cannot say that I am a perfect judge of character--far from it. However, it is easier this way. I shall never know, shall I, if you have cheated me or not. This way, I can go blissfully on my way, entirely ignorant of your design.
    "Now"--he rose to his feet again, seemingly finished with her--"if you will excuse me, Miss Meriwether, I shall ask Ahmad to escort you home. How did you come here? In a private carriage?"
    No, I--" Flustered by her failure, Trudy was about to say that she had floated on the air, but she caught herself in time. "I walked."
    "Then, Ahmad will be honored to make sure you arrive home without incident."
    "No! That is--I would be very grateful, of course, were I not en route to another call. I shall be perfectly all right without his assistance."
    Matthew's pupils contracted at her obvious confusion, but, though his gaze fell to the draft in her hand, he did not challenge her.
    "As you wish," he said in a lifeless tone, which for some reason tore at her heart.
    "I wish you would come to see our work, Sir Matthew. It would do you good, perhaps, to see the ways in which your generous donation will ease the sufferings of these unhappy men."
    Matthew declined, and in a tone so firm, she knew she must not press him. But Trudy knew, as well, that if she could only make him focus on the troubles of others, he would forget his own. That technique had always worked for her. Whenever she had felt her old restlessness growing so strong as to be painful, she had concentrated on somebody else's misery, and the mysterious emptiness within her chest had been filled for a while.
    And she had not fabricated her society. She had merely searched until she had found one that was likely to appeal to Matthew, so he would come outside and follow her into the mists. The only part she had lied about was her own involvement with the group.
    But it wouldn't be a lie any longer. She had his draft in her hands, and there was nothing to do but deliver it. And once she had done that, she would instantly become a most valued member of the society.
    The thought depressed her. As Ahmad escorted her from the house, his wary eyes never leaving hers for a moment, she wondered what she must do next. Matthew's gift was a good thing, she supposed, but getting it was not the reason she had risked being caught by humans. She had intended to draw Matthew out, out of himself as well as out of doors. Instead, she feared she had merely added to his misery, though she did not know why he seemed so mistrustful of his own kind. Or, why he should rather be cheated and stay in ignorance than allow himself to follow her.
     
    If I had known for one minute what Trudy was meanin' to do, I would have stopped her meself. And so I told her when I caught her leaving Sir Matthew's house. Ye could have knocked me down with a feather, ye could, to see her all decked out in them human clothes, and walking beside that great beastie of a man. He wanted to pop her in a cage, he did; ye could see it in his eyes. He didn't trust her for a minute. No, he did not.
    And I was purely that angry that she had gone to see Sir Matthew when he was all right and tight in his head and not delirious with the fever the way I'd always seen him. And in plain daylight, too.
    O' course, she insisted that he never suspected she was an elf, so I give 'er