Read "Eric, a Waif" by Emma Leslie online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
IT was a wet, windy day in March. The few people who had ventured out in Summerleigh had taken care to secure hats and wigs by tying handkerchiefs over both, lest they should go sailing down the village street in the mud and pools of water with which the ill-kept roads abounded. The portrait of The Magpie-a gem of art in the eyes of the villagers-swung creakingly in its frame, and the landlord, looking scarcely less uneasy, stood in the porch with his eyes fixed on a distant bend of the road.
"How is she now, Betty? " he said anxiously, as he caught the sound of a heavy footstep behind him.