The Constant Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

family? Or are you secretly married and have ten children?'
     
'I have a room in a lodging house in Angel Court. I have no family and I'm not married.' He stopped outside the front door. 'There is no mystery.'
     
'What a pity. There's nothing I like better than a good puzzle. Goodnight, Walter.'
     
He hesitated. 'I'm sorry your birthday was spoilt.'
     
'It would have ended up much worse if you hadn't been there to stop the fight.' She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. He was standing with his back to the street lamp and she could not make out the expression on his face, but when he did not immediately make a move to leave, she gave him a gentle push. 'Go on home, Walter. I'll lock up, so there's no need for you to worry on that score. I'll see you in the morning.'
     
'Goodnight, miss.' He began to walk away but she called out to him.
     
'Walter. Thank you so much for the breastpin. I love it.'
     
He glanced over his shoulder, and she thought she saw the shadow of a smile on his face before he disappeared into the darkness.
     
Having locked up and made everything secure, she was halfway up the staircase when Bertha appeared on the landing. She was dressed for bed in a voluminous white calico nightgown and her hair was confined in a mobcap. In the flickering candlelight, she looked like a rather substantial ghost. 'What's going on? I've just seen his nibs go into the parlour. If I didn't know better, I'd say he'd been in a fight.'
     
Rosina hurried up the stairs. 'It's all right, Bebe. Papa got in an argument with Captain Barnum in the Black Eagle, but it's all settled now.'
     
'It will never be all right between them two.' Bertha gave her a searching look. 'And what was you doing in the Black Eagle? I'll have a few words to say to the captain on that score.'
     
She made a move towards the parlour, but Rosina caught her by the arm. 'Not now, Bebe. I'll explain everything in the morning. Go to bed, there's a dear.'
     
'All right, but you haven't heard the last of this.' Bertha mounted the staircase that led to her bedroom at the rear of the second floor. The treads creaked beneath her weight and the candle smoked, leaving the scent of hot wax in its trail as she took the light with her. Left in the dark, Rosina went into the parlour. To her intense relief she found her father slumped on the window seat, scowling like a grumpy schoolboy, but he seemed to have suffered nothing worse than a bruised neck and hurt pride.
     
'You should have let me teach him a lesson,' he grumbled, with his pipe clenched between his teeth. 'I could have beaten Ham Barnum with one arm tied behind my back.'
     
'Of course you could, Papa. But what good would that serve? You may not get on well with Captain Barnum, but he is our neighbour. I've grown up with Sukey and her sisters, and I may not like Mrs Barnum very much, but she's always been civil to me.'
     
'I know, poppet. But I could wish that you had picked another friend. Ham and I have old scores to settle.'
     
She went to sit beside him on the window seat. 'Why do you hate him? What did he ever do to you that made you bear such a grudge?'
     
Edward took the pipe from his mouth and tapped it on the windowsill, watching the ash fly up in the air and float away on the gentle breeze. 'It's not something that I like to talk about, but I think you're old enough to understand, Rosie.'
     
'Understand what, Papa?'
     
'We were boyhood friends, Ham Barnum and I. We went to the same school and we served our apprenticeships working for the same barge owner, old man Carpenter. He had a beautiful daughter and we were both sweet on her.'
     
Rosina's breath hitched in her throat. 'Mama?'
     
Edward patted her hand, smiling. 'Yes, your dear mama. Ellie was the loveliest girl for miles around.'
     
'And you both fell in love with her?'
     
'I did, for certain. I can't speak for Barnum. He was always ambitious, and, when he had finished his apprenticeship, he moved to another and bigger