Read Online The Eyes of a King by Catherine Banner - Free Book Online Page B

evening when I woke. I could hear hushed voices from the living room and something hissing over the stove. Stirling was standing in the light from the window, leaning on the back of the sofa and talking to Grandmother. I sat up, and he heard me and turned and came to the door. “You are awake, finally,” he said, and sat down on the end of my bed. “Do you feel better now?”
    I nodded. “I don’t know why I passed out. Sorry to scare you, Stirling. I feel fine now.” It was almost true. And when I got up, I was no longer dizzy. I dressed quickly, then followed him back into the living room.
    Grandmother smiled at me from the kitchen. “I’m making you some soup,” she said.
    “You must be hungry,” said Stirling as we sat down at the table. “It’s broccoli soup, with potatoes in it and meat fat—”
    “All right!” I said. “Please don’t tell me about it.” I was still feeling sick after that morning. “I’m sure I will feel hungry once I see it,” I said.
    Stirling had the newspaper in front of him, and he bent his head now and began trying to decipher the headline. After a while, he gave up and closed it. “I saw Maria again,” he said, looking up. “I helped her carry some of her boxes up to the apartment.”
    “Oh yes?” I turned to him.
    “She’s like a princess,” Stirling said. I nodded. “She’s friendly, though,” he went on. “Very pretty. Nice baby.” It sounded as if he should be counting these out on his fingers as he said them. But he wasn’t. “She was holding on to you close, wasn’t she? This morning, when I was trying to open the door.”
    “Yes,” I said cautiously, and then added, “Quite close.”
    “You should have seen yourself. You went bright red.”
    I was alarmed. “Did I?”
    “I don’t think she noticed. She didn’t say anything about it this afternoon. She most probably thought it was just a fever.” I laughed. “Did you think she was pretty?” he asked.
    “Well, I suppose …”
    “Who?” said Grandmother, setting the bowls down on the table.
    “The girl we met today,” said Stirling. “Maria. She has moved into the top apartment. She was very kind. She helped Leo when he was feeling ill, so I could open the door.”
    Grandmother sat down and began ladling out the soup. “Someone nice in the building—that will be a change after the last few.”
    “Can we invite her round here one day?” said Stirling. “ We should invite her whole family round, to welcome them.”
    “Certainly,” said Grandmother, quite unlike her usual self. “Who else is there? Her parents?”
    “Her mother,” said Stirling. “And her baby. His name is Anselm. He is very sweet, though he cries a good deal.”
    “Her baby?” said Grandmother. “How old is this girl?”
    “Fifteen, same as Leo.”
    “And where is her husband?”
    “She doesn’t have one.”
    Grandmother raised her eyebrows. “I’m surprised she told you that so freely.”
    “But I did ask her.”
    “Stirling! You asked her if she was married?” Grandmother turned to him, frowning. “That was very rude! Do you knowhow rude that is, to ask someone if they are married? Especially if it turns out they are not.”
    “I didn’t know she was not. That was why I asked. Anyway, she didn’t mind.”
    “Well, perhaps not, but …”
    “Leo.” He turned to me. “She didn’t mind, did she?” I shook my head.
    “She seems a brazen sort of girl,” said Grandmother cautiously. “Not to feel ashamed at—”
    “Oh, Grandmother!” I exclaimed. “Don’t be so old-fashioned.”
    We were all surprised at that. “You are right,” said Grandmother after a moment. “You are right. Sorry, Leo. Some of the people we have had here—respectable when you look at them, certainly, but so unfriendly. And I do not know the circumstances. I think that we should invite her round sometime. I would like to meet her.”

    I had thought that I would rather be at home than at school, but by Tuesday