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Afoot in England by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson
page 46 of 280 (16%)
she knew, too, that he would say no more to her on the
subject, that it would all be arranged about the child with or
without her consent. His will was law, her wishes nothing.
For she was his wife and humble obedient slave; never had she
pleaded with or admonished him and never complained, even
when, after her long day of hard work, he came in at ten or
eleven o'clock at night with several of his pals, all excited
with drink and noisy as himself, to call for supper.
Nevertheless she had been happy--intensely happy, because of
the child. The love for the man she had married, wondering
how one so bright and handsome and universally admired and
liked could stoop to her, who had nothing but love and worship
to give in return--that love was now gone and was not missed,
so much greater and more satisfying was the love for her boy.
And now she must lose him. Two or three silent miserable days
passed by while she waited for the dreadful separation, until
the thought of it became unendurable and she resolved to keep
her child and sacrifice everything else. Secretly she
prepared for flight, getting together the few necessary things
she could carry; then, with the child in her arms, she stole
out one evening and began her flight, which took her all
across England at its widest part, and ended at this small
coast town, the best hiding-place she could think of.

The boy was a queer little fellow, healthy but colourless,
with strangely beautiful grey eyes which, on first seeing
them, almost startled one with their intelligence. He was shy
and almost obstinately silent, but when I talked to him on
certain subjects the intense suppressed interest he felt would
show itself in his face, and by and by it would burst out in
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