Read Online The Baker's Tale by Thomas Hauser - Free Book Online

enter the opera hall, Isabella took Edwin’s arm. He did not like the feel of it. Nor did he like the opera, although he found it less disagreeable than the sound of Isabella’s voice.
    â€œDo you think that I particularly like you?” Isabella asked during the carriage ride home.
    â€œI have not asked myself that question.”
    â€œAsk yourself the question now.”
    â€œYou act at times as though you do.”
    â€œAnd is my fondness returned?”
    Ask no questions, and you will be told no lies, Edwin thought but did not say.
    â€œI think that you are a very nice woman. And I admire your father greatly.”
    â€œMy father speaks quite well of you. He says that you have a unique ability to draw others over to your side. That is a great asset in business.”
    â€œSometimes I wonder if my life would not be better spent as a teacher, helping others who would not otherwise learn to read and write.”
    â€œSomeday, perhaps, you will make your fortune in business and use the money to pay for others to go to school. Think of all the laughing little children you could make happy.”
    There was sarcasm in her voice.
    Shortly after Edwin attended the opera, he sent a brief note of thanks to Isabella. It seemed the proper thing to do:
    Dear Miss Murd,
    Thank you for the pleasure of your company this past Saturday evening. You have brought the most beautiful music into my life.
    Then, with a sincerity matching her own, he added:
    I envision a future with laughing children learning to read and write.
    Very truly yours,
    Edwin         
    He did not realize at the time the extent of her delusions.
    Several days later, Murd called Edwin into his private office.
    â€œMy daughter tells me that she fancies you, and that your attentions toward her are serious. I approve.”
    In that moment, Edwin made a vow to himself. He would never again accept a social engagement with Isabella. Not even if the price to be paid was the loss of his employment.
    Meanwhile, Edwin’s visits to the learning center continued. Every Saturday, Ruby was there when he arrived. “You know, do you not,” another of the instructors told her, “that he comes here to see you. It is clear on his face. The moment he enters, his eyes seek you out.”
    She hoped that was true. Time glided swiftly and cheerfully when she was with Edwin. Hours seemed like minutes in his presence. And he was as devoted to teaching as she was.
    â€œTo be illiterate and see other people read and write when you cannot,” Edwin told her one day; “to see the postmen deliver letters and to be blind to all that is in them; to walk through the streets in utter darkness as to the meaning of those mysterious symbols over shops, on shop doors, and in windows. That is the curse of illiteracy.”
    No moment in the learning center moved Edwin more than the sight one afternoon of a man poring hard over a tattered newspaper. One year earlier, Edwin knew, the man’s wife had come to the learning center and spoken with Ruby.
    â€œMy husband does not know that I am here,” she had said. “He is a good man. I would not shame him for the world. But he cannot read or write, and I wish that he were able to.”
    â€œHe should come here,” Ruby told her. “And you should come too.”
    Now a tear coursed down the man’s cheek as he completed reading an article from the newspaper aloud for the class.
    â€œI can read,” he said. “The world opens up before me.”
    Then came a day in May. At the close of instruction, Edwin lingered after the students and other instructors had left the learning center.
    â€œI have a gift for you,” he told Ruby.
    And he handed her a book.
    Ruby stared at the cover. Blue decorated with a gilt wreath and words in gold: The Adventures of Oliver Twist .
    â€œIt is one of my favorites,” Edwin said. “I have inscribed it for