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.I'll ask no questions.But I'll come with you.''Eh?''You sail on Monday afternoon.It would delay you no longer than an hour to put into that beach further up the bay.It is deserted in the evening, and no one will see.I will be waiting there, and you can pick me up, and we will have four days together, and you will return me here on Thursday, or Friday, it matters nothing.''You must be mad.'She kissed him on the nose.'Not mad.In love.We quarrelled, and so lost each other for nine years.That is too long.So perhaps we can live together as man and wife.That is no reason why we cannot spend as much time together as we may.If your voyage is to take only four days, why then, it is a perfect opportunity.''And your husband?''Billy has a house in Kingston, and never visits Hilltop except at weekends.He will leave on Monday morning, which will give me ample time to reach the beach, and he will not return until Friday afternoon, by when I shall be home again.''And you don't think he'll find out? Suppose he did go out to Hilltop during the week? Suppose we were delayed by bad weather?'"There is no sign of bad weather, my darling, and Billy is above all else a creature of habit.' She frowned at him.'Don't you want me to come with you ?''Oh, Meg.' He seized her arms to hold her close again.'It would be magnificent.But.what of your children?''Prudence will look after them.' 'And she will not tell anyone?' 'She will not.'"Then what of the overseers ? They say you manage Hilltop.Don't you suppose you will be missed ?''I will tell them to mind their own business.Alan, Alan.It does not matter what they think.They are used to thinking the very worst of me.Believe me.And I do not care.Alan.Please.Let me come with you.'He was frowning again; the cabin was by now quite light.'I dare not, Meg.This.this smuggling, as you call it, is a dangerous game.'She smiled.'My presence will probably be your best security, if you are caught.What, Commander Pritchard arrest Meg Hilton?''I was not thinking of the Navy.Meg.' He sighed, and began to dress himself.'You can keep a secret?''Of course.''This is my life at stake.' 'Then be sure of it.''Aye.' He opened the cabin door, stopped, released bolts holding the table to the floor.To her surprise she discovered the entire structure folded, and could be lifted, at least by a man like Alan, onto the bunk.And beneath it, quite concealed when the table was in place, there was a large double hatch, some six feet long.Alan stopped, thrust his forefinger into the brass grips, and lifted one side.Meg stood above him and stared at the wooden crates.'Gold ingots?' she whispered.'You really think little of me,' he said.'Those are rifles.Modern breech-loading rifles, each with two hundred rounds of ammunition.''My God,' She sat on the bunk.'Whatever do you wish them for?''I do not wish them for anything.I deliver them to Cuba.''Cuba?' She found herself scratching her head.'There is an insurgency movement there, in case it has escaped your notice.The Cubans are endeavouring to throw off their Spanish masters.Believe me, it is a bloody and filthy war, like all civil wars.''And you supply the rebels with arms?''I supply the patriots with arms.''My God,' she said again.'And if I am taken, I will be hanged,' he said.'So will anyone with me.''But why?' she cried.'Why risk your life, time and again? Are you so well paid?' 'I am adequately paid.I do not do it for the money.' "Then why?He sighed, and slowly lowered the hatch back into place.'I doubt you will ever be able to understand that, Meg.''I don't see how I can, if you will not explain.''Well.for nearly four hundred years these people have been subjected to the most ghastly tyranny in history.''Oh, nonsense.Are they not of Spanish descent themselves ? Was every Cuban woman forced?'"The original Cuban people, the Indians, were liquidated by the conquistadores.There is not one left.Negroes were imported to work the sugar, as in the rest of the West Indies.So a large part of the population is of mixed blood.And they are treated as inferior beings by the Creoles, in turn treated as inferiors by the Spaniards from Spain, who include nearly all the government officials.''It sounds exactly like any West Indian island to me.''Save that our notions of justice are slightly different.'‘I am not at all sure of that,' she said.'I remember your father shooting a goat stealer once.And the whole thing was hushed up by my father.'"Those were our fathers,' he said."Those were the very people I am determined never to follow.But the people you are aping to the best of your ability.Anyway, shooting a burglar is one thing.Systematically destroying pride and dignity and indeed humanity is another.The Cubans mean to be free, to be Cubans.And I intend to help them to achieve that.' He finished dressing.'Now I shall put you ashore.'She held his arm.'And take me aboard again, Monday afternoon.' 'I have just explained.''Very well.So well that I am determined to see for myself.Just as I am determined to spend four days in your bunk
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Tematy
IndexChristine Amsden [Cassie Scot Cassie Scot ParaNormal Detecti
Christie Craig [Divorced, Des Divorced, Desperate
Moore Christopher Ssij, mała, ssij (II)
Stasheff, Christopher Wizard in Rhyme 6 Haunted Wizard
Christine Feehan Mroczna Seri Mroczny Demon
Cidney Swanson [Saving Mars Saving Mars (epub)
Stasheff, Christopher Rogue Wizard 04 A Wizard in Peace
Feehan Christine Mroczna Seria 01 Mroczny Ksišże
Stasheff, Christopher Warlock 01 The Warlock in Spite of Himself
Christine Feehan Mroczna Seria 13 Mroczne Przeznaczenie