Little Girl Lost Read Online Free Page B

scarcely knew. Also, he guessed it was a brave attempt to take his mind off what she had already told him, so he answered her in kind. ‘You’re lucky to have a big family near enough to visit and your sister Annie sounds grand,’ he told her. ‘I’ve only got one brother and no sisters at all, and since, as you’ve probably guessed, I’m from Ireland, I can’t see any of ’em except on my annual holiday. But I’ve an uncle living in Lancashire; he’s a village bobby, a grand feller, so when I get the chance – when I’m off duty, that is – I visit him and his family for a bit of a change from city life.’
    He had hoped to make her feel more at ease and this seemed to do the trick, so he beguiled the rest of their walk with a description of the little farm in Connemara where he had been born and where his parents still lived. She exclaimed over the fact that his mother and father were both nearing seventy – her mother was only fifty – and this led to Brendan’s explaining that, as a general rule, the Irish married much later than their English counterparts. ‘For ’tis economical sense to save up for a home of your own before marrying,’ he told her. He did not add that both priests and parents encouraged late marriages because if a woman was forty before she wed she was unlikely to have a large family.
    ‘I wish it were like that here,’ Sylvie said, rather dolefully. ‘I were only seventeen when I had Becky and Len’s a lot older than me, o’ course.’
    By this time they were approaching the Ferryman and Brendan drew her to a halt where there was a dark patch between two hissing gas lamps. ‘Look, alanna, how long do you reckon it’ll be before your ma-in-law – or someone else – realises you’re in the family way? Only it’s pretty clear to me that you’ll be in danger if you stay in Liverpool once the Dugdales know there’s a child on the way. Is there anywhere that you and Becky can go, where the Dugdales won’t find you?’
    ‘I don’t know of anywhere,’ Sylvie said miserably. ‘I’ve tried to think of a good reason for goin’ away, only even if I did, neither Becky nor meself can live on air. At present, of course, the Dugdales pay for just about everything.’ She smiled brightly up at him, though there was trouble in her large eyes. ‘What do you think I should do?’
    Brendan sighed, but not aloud. She was so young, so trusting, and so very pretty. As they walked, he had been thinking hard, and now he came up with an idea, if not a solution. ‘I t’ink what you’ll have to do is to leave Becky behind, because you know they love the child and would never abandon her,’ he said slowly. ‘Then you could tell them you’ve been offered a live-in job with a rich family. You could say they have come over from America to visit their relations in Ireland, so will only want someone for six months and are prepared to pay well. You’d have to beg them, very prettily, to take great care of Becky because your new employers would not consider taking on anyone with a child of their own. And then you could go to my cousin in Dublin, have the baby, get it adopted, and return to Liverpool. You can give them my cousin’s address so they can write, and you can write back. Only . . . only will they believe it, do you think, or will they smell a rat?’
    ‘Oh yes, they’ll believe it. They know I’m desperate for a home of my own, and of course Len hasn’t been earning while he’s been clapped up,’ Sylvie said. ‘And even Len was getting sick and tired of living under his parents’ roof. The only thing is, it would be dreadfully hard to leave Becky – though I suppose it wouldn’t be for very long, really. But won’t your cousin mind, Brendan?’
    Brendan patted her shoulder reassuringly. ‘She’s a grand girl is Caitlin O’Keefe, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to get you out of trouble once I’ve explained everything to her. And if you can’t get a job over