Read Miss Sophie's Secret for Free Online Page A

quickly. “You miss him dreadfully, don’t you, Sophie?”
    She nodded, fighting back tears. “And I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you are here with us now, as you are the only other person to whom I have ever felt close. It will be such a comfort to have you nearby. As much as I have looked forward to this stay in town, I have suffered the most frightful nightmares, dreading the missteps I am certain to commit. But now you’ll take me in hand and guide me in the way I should go, and all will be well.”
    He clicked his tongue. “Surely Aunt Ruth has taught you all the proper moves.”
    “But somehow things always contrive to go awry,” she said.
    He performed a mock bow. “Then I shall do everything in my power to insure that they don’t.”
    She went to him quickly, slid an arm around his neck and, pulling off his shako, kissed him lightly on the lips.
    “Sophie!” he protested.
    She popped the shako back into place just as Johnnie Aysgarth entered the room.
    “Ah, here you are,” Sophie said. “Master Jonathan and I are ready to go out and meet the world head-on.”
     

Chapter 3
     
    A knife-sharp breeze hacked the dried leaves from the plane trees and tumbled them along the gutters as Sophie and Jonathan trotted briskly into the park. Mounted on a fine young chestnut, Jonathan sat at his customary ease, his back straight, his gold-bedecked red coat and shako drawing the admiring glances of every passerby. Sophie smiled at him and he smiled back at her.
    “Am I very handsome now that I have this perpetual grin on my face?” he asked her.
    “Yes, indeed,” she told him. “You are quite dazzling. You must always wear that uniform.”
    “Unfortunately, I must discard it as soon as possible, now that I’m being mustered out,” he said. “Weston’s has already begun work on a proper wardrobe for me. It would be quite improper for me to wear a uniform any longer than is absolutely necessary.”
    “Then we must have your portrait painted in it, before you store it away. And you must be mounted on your horse. Just think how delightful it will be to hang such a picture in the gallery at Vaile Priory—much finer than those musty old paintings of relatives with pious faces, holding crosses and such.”
    A thought struck her. “Or perhaps it would be better to show you standing on the fence in front of Vaile House, as I saw you yesterday. You were heroic indeed as I looked up at you from my place on the ground.”
    Jonathan smiled but shook his head. “I’ve no desire to appear heroic. I’ll have my portrait painted in a more natural stance. I’ll be strolling along a country lane with a stick in my hand, prodding a line of milch cows.”
    She tossed her head. “I should not like that at all.”
    The park, they discovered, was remarkably busy for such an early hour. It was filled with people who were taking advantage of a bright, clear morning. Eight or ten riders walked or trotted along the tan that bordered the carriage way. Both Sophie and Jonathan found their work cut out for them as their green horses took exception to every leaf and stone in their paths. Sophie’s mare quieted first, and she was able to cast admiring glances at her companion.
    “You have not had that horse long, Jonathan?” she asked him.
    “No,” he admitted. “I should be riding old Blackie—he served me so well on the Peninsula all these years, and I had promised myself I’d bring him home to a good English pasture one day. But he was injured and I lost him only last month, poor fellow.”
    Sophie drew a sorrowful face. “How sad.”
    “It was, indeed.”
    “Were you in many battles?” she persisted.
    He nodded, then turned quickly away, as though reluctant to pursue the topic further.
    For a time they rode in silence, both deep in thought. Suddenly Jonathan let out an exclamation.
    “By all that’s holy, there’s Jeanette! Aunt Ruth was right—she takes one’s breath away. Look there, Sophie—the