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Show 190 She answered, "I didn't suppose for a moment that you would have told anyone. In fact, I was so confident I could trust you that I've never even mentioned to my husband that you saw me in the hall it Karl was relieved to hear that. Until then, a shadow of suspicion had nagged him that Hugo might have been offered the mill job as an unnecessary bribe to keep him silent. "My father doesn't know anything about it either," he said. "The only person I told was Andy, and he already knew." He sipped the tea; its warmth turned to heat inside him when Yulyona reached across the table between them, gently touching his hand. She gazed at him so directly that he was forced to look directly back, was unable to do anything except meet her eyes. "Karl," she asked, "why did you leave Canaan that night?" He was proud that he could keep his gaze so steady. He even managed to smile a little. "Andy and I had planned it for a long time," he said. "It was just a schoolboy adventure." The teacup in his fingers rattled against its saucer; he pushed on it to quiet it. Yulyona looked grave -- maybe she doubted him -- but all she said was, "Why don't you try some of these sandwiches? We have an English cook, and if I don't eat everything on the tea tray, he gets out of sorts. Usually Mary Margaret helps me." She heaped his plate with small sandwiches cut into circles and triangles, filled with cream cheese and cucumbers. Although Karl was impressed that the cook could find cucumbers at that time of year, he didn't much like the taste of the sandwiches. He ate |
