Read Online The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg - Free Book Online Page B

and it was quite a while before Martha left to go back to her own room.

Twelve
    Just as Rake started to get undressed he heard a knock at his door. He pulled up his trousers again, put on his jacket and took a few hesitant steps in the direction of the door.
    ‘It’s me, Christina,’ a small voice said from outside.
    Rake quickly combed his hair, tied a cravat round his neck and opened the door.
    ‘Come in, come in!’
    When she entered the room, he immediately noticed that she looked worried.
    ‘A little champagne?’
    She shook her head and sank down onto the sofa.
    ‘Your suite certainly does look masculine,’ Christina said. Rake watched as she rubbed her hand across her forehead as though she had a headache.
    ‘I thought it suited me. It has a pure style and it reminds me of my time at sea.’ His cheeks acquired a little colour.
    ‘To think that people live in such luxury. I heard that guests who return to the hotel always want to have the same room as before. That’s totally understandable. I don’t want to end up in prison. I want to stay here.’
    ‘But Christina, that’s the whole point. We’ve got to commit crimes in order to live in this sort of luxury,’ he said as he sat down beside her.
    ‘Well, I don’t want to steal!’ Christina’s voice was shrill. ‘We can’t. It’s not right.’
    ‘But my dear Christina, you can’t abandon ship now. You’ll be ruining things for the rest of us.’
    ‘But what about my children? What are they going to say? Emma and Anders will be ashamed of me, and what if they turn their backs on me for ever?’
    ‘Oh no. They are going to be proud of you. Think of Robin Hood, who stole from the rich. The English love him.’
    ‘So my children will come to respect me because I steal like Robin Hood? But Robin Hood and safes at the Grand Hotel are not exactly the same thing.’
    ‘Oh yes they are. We are stealing from the wealthy, and people always make allowances if you steal from those who have a lot of money. Anders and Emma will do that as well. Do you remember the Great Train Robbery in England? Most people think that it was really clever and the man who masterminded it is admired by some.’
    ‘But that was a gigantic robbery. We are only stealing on a small scale in comparison.’
    ‘Well, enough to get us into prison.’
    ‘Yes, rather that than electronic tagging, I suppose. That would be awful. Just imagine going around with one of those ugly ankle tags!’ Christina looked at Rake with tears in her eyes. He put a comforting arm around her.
    ‘You can’t imagine how brave everybody is going to think you are. It will be a famous robbery coup and you will be a part of it. You will become a legend.’
    ‘Me?’
    ‘Yes, you. People are going to talk about you with respect. I am proud of you and I am so glad to have you on board.’
    ‘Do you really mean that?’ Christina lowered her eyes and Rake saw that he was gaining the upper hand. He knew that he was good at handling women and he continued, confident of victory.
    ‘You are very pretty, you know that?’ He cupped her face in his hands and looked deep into her eyes. ‘I have faith in you; I know that you can do this.’ Then he stroked her cheek softly, leaned forward and held her for a long while before finally getting up and pulling her up from the sofa too.
    ‘I’m going to be with you the whole time. You can trust me,’ he said, kissing her on the cheek. Then he led her amicably all the way to the door.
    When Christina got back to her room she lay awake a long time with her hands on her chest. With a smile she thought about how sweet Rake had been, and how lovely it had felt when he had embraced her. But when it came to stealing … her parents had been Pentecostalists, always preaching the importance of righteousness. Should she just abandon that now? Every single Sunday they had made her go to church. It had been boring, and if it hadn’t been for the music it would have been