Page 111 of The Hunter

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“What doesyourmother do?” Christopher asked shortly.

“I don’t know. I always sleep.”

An eternity went by.

“She… she sang.” Christopher’s voice thickened. “We sang.”

“Sang what?”

“Songs, of course.”

“Whatsongs?” Jakub asked with affectionate exasperation.

“I—hardly remember.”

“Not even one?”

The mattress creaked with a shift of movement. “Perhaps one.”

“Sing it for me?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I refuse to sleep until you do,” Jakub cajoled.

“So be it. You’ll be quite exhausted for a very long time.”

“Will you at least tell me the name? Maybe I know of it?” Jakub was starting to sound like himself, and Millie couldn’t be more grateful.

“Very well,” Christopher consented. “It’s an old Celtic tune. She called it ‘Hush.’”

“I know just the one!” Jakub crowed. “Old Mrs. McMasters used to sing it to me when Mama was on stage. Are you Scottish, Mr. Argent?”

“Couldn’t say. It’s a possibility, I suppose.”

Jakub’s high, small voice broke through the night with heartbreaking sweetness.

Hush Hush in the evening,

Good dreams will come stealing.

Of freedom and laughter

and peace ever after…

“I… don’t remember the next bit.” Jakub sighed.

The hand that Farah didn’t have around Millie flew to her heart as Christopher astounded them both when he softly sang.

Ye’ll smile while you’re sleeping.

And watch I’ll be keeping.

Hush hush now my darling

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