Mischievous look

Throughout the house ...

... it had become much more homely. Every evening the candles were lit, the pile of wood for the fireplace in the dining room was enlarged to drive away the increasing cold and the coal stove for the dining room was heated by Francis. It got comfortably warm in the whole house. More and more guests ordered a punch or hot grog instead of the evening beer and the spicy scents contributed to a pleasant pre-Christmas mood for everyone.

In addition, the Drakes made their young employees more and more like family, and Gina was much less worried that she would not survive the probationary period.

However, with the best will in the world, she did not succeed in catching Francis in an unobserved minute. Mrs. Drake persisted in isolating her son from the outside world and from Gina.

In contrast to her, the long-established guests were used to his silence, at any rate during the whole time she hadn't heard anyone mocking it.

Even the few tourists who found their way from London to the small town on the museum train and then stopped in the picturesque pub after a tour of the harbor were not bothered by it, but at best thought it was an illness or a funny quirk.

On Sunday evening, inspired by the brief eye contact with Francis, Gina had finally written her mother a first and long-overdue letter. In it she told of the small town and her life with the Drakes, but Francis didn’t mention her at first.

When rereading the writing, she got the feeling that it didn't sound as positive overall as she felt at the moment, but since she belonged in bed for a long time, she didn't want to change anything. She sealed the envelope and sealed Queen Elisabeth's head on it, then quickly brought it downstairs and placed it on the cupboard behind the counter on which the outgoing mail was collected.

This slight feeling of happiness, which had lodged in her heart and which could no longer be belittled, found new nourishment on Sunday.

Mr. Drake had decided to mend a few damaged parts of the old house before winter would fall on them with all its severity, so Mrs. Drake would have to do all the preparations for the evening meal in the kitchen and Francis and Gina would take care of the dinner Guests in the taproom was transferred.

On this Sunday evening, a particularly large number of guests came from the village, who apparently all believed that it would make more sense to leave the stove off at home and instead celebrate the end of the week with a few friends in the pub.

So Gina didn't have time to stand with Francis behind the counter for a few minutes - regardless of the fact that Mrs. Drake would certainly have observed this through the open kitchen door - but at least she tried to make eye contact with Francis a few times in the evening, who cautiously but gladly returned these timid attempts.

But later in the evening and during dinner time, Mrs. Drake again watched like a lynx that there was no further contact. She remained attentive on the following days too, so that Gina's little plant of hope received no more food and began to wither again. But instead of leaving Gina discouraged, this fueled her ambition. Even if she wasn't sure how at the moment, she would find a way to get closer to Francis. Deep down she felt that he wanted that too.

Nobody could have guessed that in Gina's home parish the window of the post office opened these days, through which a gray-clad arm reached out a small piece of paper, which a young man accepted with a whispered "Thank you, I owe you something!" The shadows of the alleys disappeared.

"Gina, can I get your help afterwards?"

It was Wednesday morning and Gina looked up from her newspaper, which she was reading at a late breakfast. She had slept late today because of the rest day, and by the time she finally went down to the kitchen the Drakes had already finished breakfast. Mrs. Drake was already stirring a large pot in which dinner was slowly simmering.

"Yes of course. What should I do? ”

“ Next door, I mean up front, on Harbor Street, Sally Blake lives. I help her every now and then when she has to look after her seriously ill mother and bring her food, or help her with the housework. Of course not much, "she prevented from misunderstanding," every now and then an hour or so. But today Mr. Drake and I wanted to do some more shopping and I was wondering if you would like to bring Sally a pot of food afterwards. "

" Of course, I'll do that. When should I take it over? ”

“ Well, in about an hour, I think. The stew should be ready by then. ”

Gina was happy about this task, on a day on which she would otherwise have only had a walk to get out, after all, even a visit to the cinema in the district town was difficult without her own car realize. And so she was finally able to get to know someone outside of the pub. Because if Mrs. Drake hadn't specifically mentioned it, Gina was sure that Francis would be taken shopping too. "OK. Should I stir now and then? ”

“ Yes, that would be good. And after the lesson you can just take the stew off the fire and leave it there so that it goes through tonight. ”She gave Gina such a mischievous look that Gina was almost sure that Mrs. Drake was up to something.

It was probably just another attempt to keep her away from Francis. But she didn't worry about it at first and just watched how the Drakes and Francis actually left the house in a hurry and started the roaring engine of the old car.

Gina passed the time at the stove by leafing through the newspaper between the phases of stirring. After an hour or so she pulled the large, heavy saucepan off the fire with all her might and poured a generous serving for two into a simple vessel Mrs. Drake had provided.

She didn't bother to put on a coat, just grabbed one of the house keys that were hanging ready, closed the door behind her and carefully walked the few steps in front of the pub to the neighbour's narrow house.

There she looked for a moment in vain for a bell, then knocked three times vigorously on the door and took another step down from the threshold. At first only a wooden hatch opened, through which Sally Blake cautiously peered outside.

"Yes? What can I do for you? ”