Read Online A Mistletoe Kiss by Katie Flynn - Free Book Online

a teacher!
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    â€˜Tomorrow, did you say? Goodness, how the time has flown! And how long did you say you would spend on the canal?’
    â€˜A whole month,’ Hetty said, smiling at the librarian. ‘Well, I suppose it will be a whole month; it usually is. It’s a good thing we get six weeks off school, because Grandpa would never dream of letting me stay on the Sprite if school was open. As it is, he’ll probably have to bring me back on the very last day of the holidays. But of course I shan’t know for certain until I get aboard.’
    Miss Preece nodded her comprehension. She knew that her companion’s holiday should have started two weeks ago, and that Hetty had been desperately disappointed when a note had arrived from her grandfather telling her that the Sprite was out of commission for a fortnight, during which time he and his wife would move into cheap lodgings in Leeds. However, he had said that they would be in Liverpool in plenty of time to pick Hetty up at the wharf, and promised her ‘a nice surprise’ when he saw her again. Miss Preece had been delighted that her small companion was not to be wrested from her as soon as she had expected, but had known better than to say so, merely commiserating with Hetty and using the extra time to introduce the girl to a great many of her own favourite books.
    Now the two of them were in the tiny office at the back of the library with Hetty’s holiday task, satisfactorily completed, spread out on the desk. Miss Preece had read it and been impressed. The girl before herhad used all the information the library could provide on her subject, yet had managed to do it so cleverly that the completed essay read more like a story than a stiff and formal piece of research.
    â€˜A whole month, which by coincidence is precisely the time you’ve been visiting the library,’ Miss Preece said now, smiling back at her companion and thinking how the child had improved in that time. It was not just her looks, though she was taking a good deal more care of her appearance, but her self-confidence had improved by leaps and bounds. Now, she did not sidle in hoping to escape notice, but came into the library as of right and treated the books with the loving respect which Miss Preece demanded, though she had never actually put her feelings into words. ‘Well, you’ve worked very hard on your holiday task so I suppose I mustn’t grudge you your voyage on the good ship Water Sprite. ’ The librarian laughed rather self-consciously. ‘I shall miss our chats; in fact I shall miss you.’
    â€˜Will you really? Miss me, I mean,’ Hetty said, sounding doubtful. ‘I shall miss you and the wonderful books very much, but I do so love being aboard the Water Sprite . I don’t know if you can understand how free I feel when I’m on the canal. Of course I have to work; I open and close the locks, lead Guinness – he’s the horse – along the towpaths and to and from the stables, get Gran’s messages when we tie up near a village … but it’s very different from the sort of life I live during term time.’
    â€˜But you’re fond of your aunt and cousins, I know,’Miss Preece said. Having discovered that they lived not far from each other, they had formed the habit of walking home together after the library closed and Hetty had talked freely of her life in her uncle’s house.
    â€˜Oh yes, Aunt Phoebe is very good to me and the boys aren’t so bad. Uncle Alf is always fair, but he doesn’t really understand girls. He thinks we all like housework, cooking and knitting.’ She giggled. ‘He actually thinks reading is a waste of time; can you believe it?’
    Miss Preece laughed with her, then picked up the exercise book which contained Hetty’s holiday task. She had chosen to write about the life of an Eskimo family and had done it so well that Miss Preece had