Читать книгу Susan Spray онлайн

77 страница из 108

"Döan't cry—I'm sorry I mäade you cry."

Susan was not used to caresses. It must have been years since anyone had hugged her, and she certainly had not expected to be hugged by Dave, who was one of the roughest of the boys.

"There now," he said, "I wur angry. I döan't like you going."

She rubbed her cheek against his sleeve. She found that it was pleasant to be hugged and made of, even by a boy whose coat smelt strongly of rabbit-skins. He held her close, and whispered again:

"I döan't like you going."

"Maybe I'll come back."

She saw herself returning, triumphant and glorious, to confound the folk of Copthorne; though at the moment she was uncertain whether her triumphs would be in religion or with the Cart People.

But he said:

"No. You'll never come back."

He seemed so sure of it that she believed him.

§ 21

The Colgate Brethren, when they found that the Spray family was leaving them, forgot their disapproval of Adam, and gave him and his children every token of friendship and regret. They collected among them seven shillings for his expenses on the way: they even thought of writing an Epistle to the Brethren at Horsham in the best Pauline manner—until it was found that none of them could write.