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She Knitted for the Orphans in Secret for Five Winters — Then an Earl Showed the Whole Town

She Knitted for the Orphans in Secret for Five Winters — Then an Earl Showed the Whole Town

Chapter 6

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"Of course," he said gently. "May I walk with you? It is dark."They walked together through the sleeping town. Their feet made soft sounds in the snow."You asked me in the shop how I know about the cold," Lucy said. "May I ask you the same, my lord? An earl doesn't often choose the right hat."He was quiet for a while. "I did not grow up an earl," he said at last. "Until I was ten, I did not know I was anyone. I lived in a home for children with no parents. A house like St. Anne's. We were cold all winter. Every winter. I've never forgotten it."Lucy looked up at him. "I am sorry.""Don't be. It taught me what matters." He stopped at the door of the hat shop. "It taught me that a warm thing given by a stranger can keep a child alive. Not just the body—the heart."He bowed, and he walked away into the snow. And Lucy stood at the door with her empty basket and her heart beating much too fast.The Earl went to St. Anne's the next day. He went alone.Mrs. Green met him at the door. She was a small, tired woman with a kind face and a shawl full of holes. She had run the home for thirty years. He asked her how the children were. He asked her if the £200 had helped.Mrs. Green looked at him, puzzled. "What £200, my lord?"The Earl did not say anything for a moment. Then he asked to see the latest parcel from the Blue Star.Mrs. Green brought it out: ten pairs of mittens, six pairs of socks, three small hats, all made from odd bits of wool—brown and gray and green—but every stitch tight and even.The Earl turned one mitten inside out. There in the cuff was the little blue star: five points, one point a little longer than the rest.His hand shook.
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She Knitted for the Orphans in Secret for Five Winters — Then an Earl Showed the Whole Town

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