The Andre Norton Megapack - 15 Classic Novels and Short Stories

Fredericka was so used to being roused at seven that she woke as usual and hated herself for having become such a tiresome creature of habit. And then, to make matters worse, she couldn’t even enjoy lying in bed once she had awakened. Her mind leapt on to the day ahead and the work undone, even on a Sunday.
    Moreover, this morning there was Sergeant Brown to think of. He was probably pottering around in the kitchen by now and longing for his breakfast. She was troubled that Thane had given him so little relief from the job. It was all very well for him to say that it was a soft one and that Jim Brown had probably had more sleep in the past week than in any other week in his life. But it wasn’t exactly a picnic to spend one’s nights on the narrow couch in the study and to keep getting up at all hours to do a night-watchman’s round. It was true that he had had time off—a good deal of it—during the days. But he had told her last night at supper about his wife and their small baby. It couldn’t be much fun to do a job like this, especially when there wasn’t so much as a compensating flicker of excitement beyond scaring away a handful of mischievous kids.
    As Fredericka dressed she kept stopping to look out at the back yard and her jungle, but her thoughts were still centered on young Brown and then on younger Margie. They both made her feel old and selfish. How easy it was to fall into a neat narrow path when one lived only for oneself. She sighed heavily as she stood for a moment looking out at the brilliant green of the grass against the darkness of the shrubs and trees. She tried to escape her self-criticism by opening her eyes and allowing them to absorb the beauty of this morning. A faint mist lay in patches on the ground, like great spiders’ webs, and above the trees the sky was intensely blue and cloudless. The window was open and the air that touched Fredericka’s face and arms was soft, and laden with the warm sweet scent of full summer. As she stood, the quietness soothed her troubled mind and she was aware of a happiness that she had never known before.
    What had happened to her in these three weeks of horror and fear and strain? It was as though, until now, she had walked safely and quietly along her private pathway, living more and more within herself and for herself. Now suddenly she had become aware of the fullness of life because she had touched death, sensitive to goodness because she had known evil, and, yes, capable of love and of unselfishness, because her eyes had been opened to see…
    Sergeant Brown had the coffee percolating noisily on the stove and he was just lifting eggs and bacon from the frying pan as Fredericka entered the kitchen.
    “Oh, you are good,” she said by way of greeting and then, “Did you get any sleep?”
    “Good morning,” said Sergeant Brown politely. “As a matter of fact, I slept too well and I’m feeling I ought to earn my keep somehow. So—I got breakfast. I hope you don’t mind.”
    “Mind? Never has breakfast looked so good to me. The only trouble is the awful fear I have of losing you. If only something would happen so that it would be essential to keep you here for the length of my stay. But I guess I’d have to be the guilty party if that were to happen. You wouldn’t consider leaving the police force, would you?”
    “No, Ma’am,” Sergeant Brown answered her seriously, and without a moment’s hesitation.
    Fredericka laughed and was aware suddenly that before she came to South Sutton she would have minded—very much—if anyone had gone into her kitchen to help themselves to her food and cook a meal without her permission. And now it was true that she didn’t mind—that she was, in fact, delighted.
    Their meal finished, Sergeant Brown dried the dishes and then Fredericka asked him whether or not his chief had given him the day off. “He didn’t say, Miss Wing. And I thought, seeing as how you’re alone on a Sunday without Chris or any customers, you’d rather I stayed.”
    “Nonsense,” Fredericka said at once. “I’m going to church this morning.” Until that moment the idea of church had not occurred to her and she was a little startled at her sudden decision, but she hurried on: “Then, well then, I’ll probably go to the inn for lunch and I’ll spend the afternoon in the orchard where I can’t be found. So, for heaven’s sake, let me enjoy myself with a clear conscience. You go home to your wife and infant for