The Reluctant Bridegroom Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the librarians, hurried over to her. “Why, Rebekah Marlowe!” he chided, “you’ve soaked your feet! You come back to my office right this minute!” She followed him to a small room with a desk and chair and a small stove. Pushing the chair closer to the heat, the white-haired old man beckoned to her. “Now, you sit down here and thaw out.”
    “Thank you,” Rebekah said gratefully and settled wearily into the seat. Mayberry studied her a moment, his bright black eyes thoughtful. They had become well acquainted, for she had often spent the whole day there; he had been helpful finding books for her, recommending his own favorites. Several times he had insisted on serving her tea.
    And so it was not strange that he did so now, saying, “Now, you get those wet stockings off and put them to dry in front of the stove. By the time they get dry, we’ll have a late breakfast—tea and some of my wife’s cakes I took with me this morning.”
    His kindness brought tears to her eyes, which she tried to blink back, not trusting herself to answer him aloud. He pretended not to notice. “Hurry now! I’m hungry!” he said gruffly, leaving the room quickly.
    She pulled off her soaked shoes and put them close to the stove and watched the steam rise for a moment before hanging her stockings on another chair to dry, then settled herself back into the chair, holding her feet up to the delicious warmth.Slowly she thawed out, and twenty minutes later, she was able to put her stockings and shoes on, warm and dry as toast.
    Mayberry entered with a tray. “All dried out? Good! Now then, it’s time for high tea.” The two of them cleared a place on his desk, and as he poured the rich India tea, the sharp aroma filled the small office. “Try some of that marmalade on the cakes, Rebekah,” he urged. “My daughter’s recipe. Delicious!”
    As they ate he carried on a lively conversation, and his sharp eyes took in every detail as his mind probed for clues. Mayberry was a man of books, but he was even more a student of the humans who read them. He noticed that Rebekah’s cheeks, so full and rosy that summer, were now pale and slightly sunken. She had lost weight, and he later told his wife, “I think Rebekah’s in trouble, Helen. She used to dress in the finest styles—but lately she’s been wearing the same dress every day. I’m afraid there’s some kind of problem.”
    As they sipped their tea he tactfully began to find out what he could, but he soon discovered she was not one to complain. When he asked about her husband, she hesitated. “His business isn’t doing too well, Mr. Mayberry, but we expect it to pick up soon.”
    Out of work, Mayberry thought. To her, he said only, “Well, times are hard, but come spring, things will begin to hum again.” He talked with her for half an hour longer, then said, “Why don’t you stay in here, Rebekah? It’s more comfortable than in the reading room. I’ve got a couple of books I’d like you to read. Let me get them for you.” Without giving her a chance to answer, he rose and went out of the room, returning with two books in his hand.
    “Have you read The Deerslayer? ”
    “No. I don’t know it.”
    “It’s written by a man named James Cooper,” Mayberry said. “High adventure about the noble redskin. It is an amusing diversion—though I couldn’t say how accurately he portrays the savages.” Putting the book down, he handed herthe second book, thinner than the first one and bound in red leather. “Now this is more to my taste, Rebekah—real life adventure!”
    Opening it, she read aloud, “ The Journal of Gilbert Winslow. ” Looking up, she asked, “Who is Gilbert Winslow, Mr. Mayberry?”
    “Oh, he was one of the firstcomers on the Mayflower. He never became very famous, like John Bradford or Captain Miles Standish, but he was quite a man, Rebekah—quite a man!”
    Rebekah leafed through the book and smiled. “I’ve never read a journal before. It