"Did you know that youse scared me so
that I was going to kill you?" whispered Rags, apologetically, as he
carefully held the baby from him at arm's length. "Did you?" But the
baby only smiled at this and reached out its hand and stroked Rag's
cheek with its fingers. There was something so wonderfully soft and
sweet in this that Rags drew the baby nearer and gave a quick, strange
gasp of pleasure as it threw its arms around his neck and brought the
face up close to his chin and hugged him tightly. The baby's arms were
very soft and plump, and its cheek and tangled hair were warm and
moist with perspiration, and the breath that fell on Raegen's face was
sweeter than anything he had ever known. He felt wonderfully and for
some reason uncomfortably happy, but the silence was oppressive.
"What's your name, little 'un?" said Rags. The baby ran its arms more
closely around Raegen's neck and did not speak, unless its cooing in
Raegen's ear was an answer. "What did you say your name was?"
persisted Raegen, in a whisper. The baby frowned at this and stopped
cooing long enough to say: "Marg'ret," mechanically and without
apparently associating the name with herself or anything else.
Pages:
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80