"Joe Haldeman - Guardian" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haldeman Joe)

child's trust in God's authority as well. In later years I was to fight a hard battle, not
wholly won, against Daniel's constant doubting and attraction to atheism, and I hope his
father's soul is heavily burdened with his responsibility for that, on top of everything else.
We make our escape.

When the servants arrived in the morning, I treated it like any other day, though I knew
that might make our later departure suspicious. Let them suspect; by evening, it would be
clear enough what had happened.
How much more difficult and chancy our escape would have been today, with
universal telephones and modern record-keeping. It would be impossible not to leave
traces everywhere.
As it was, we had a substantial breakfast together—enjoying Sue Anne's delicious
apple pancakes for the last time!—and I went through the ritual of getting Daniel ready
for school. Edward took him aside for a few words before he left for the office. As soon
as his carriage was around the corner, I sent Jimmy, the stable boy, to go down to the
stand on Market and send us a cabriolet.
He came back riding on its fender and, helped by the scullery maid, put our two
chests aboard. We said we were taking some things out to Edward's sister in Bristol,
about thirty miles away, and would be back by nightfall. I'm sure that Sue Anne, at least,
suspected something was odd by my tone of voice, and Jimmy looked quizzically at the
guitar, but said nothing. Daniel was trying to act nonchalant, but he trembled somewhat
and looked queer. I knew he was on the verge of tears. However much he wanted to
escape Edward, he was still leaving the only home he'd ever known. Jimmy had been his
playmate and protector since he was small, and Sue Anne his nurse.
We got aboard the cab, and I directed the driver to the local rail line. After a
couple of blocks, when we could no longer be seen from the house, I said to take us
instead to the Fidelity Safe Deposit Company and wait there for me.
This safe-deposit box was the one big secret I had always withheld from Edward.
It held the balance of the double eagles left over from my father's legacy, after my
education. There was still enough to add a couple of pounds to my purse. I changed
twelve of them into paper money and returned to the cab, which then took us to Broad
Street Station.
I gave two urchins pennies to carry our chests, which was less conspicuous then
carrying them ourselves, and found that our timing was nearly perfect. There was a train
leaving for Jersey City Station in New York in ten minutes. We secured first-class seats
and the train chugged out just as we were getting settled.
We had two facing seats to ourselves, so we spread out all the timetables I had
secured at the ticket counter, and considered the various routes to Dodge City.
Privately I assumed the worst: What could Edward do if he correctly divined our
course of action? It would not take him long to realize we had taken the train, and he
would assume we had gone to either New York or Washington. (There was a direct train
to Chicago, the Pennsylvania Limited, but it didn't leave until much later.) He could wire
both places and have agents look for us. But he wouldn't be home from work until five
thirty at the earliest—more like seven, most nights—and if the train was on time, we
would be in New York by quarter past three.
There were dozens of trains bound from New York to Chicago. It was just
possible he could have an agent watching for us there. In fact, we would probably be well
advised not to go through Chicago at all, since if he guessed we were westward bound, he
would have that station watched.
I told Daniel we might as well see a lot of the country, and charted a jagged path