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"Very well then," the Lady says She smiles, the way you would smile at a speck of filth "Keep hiain know the joy that I taught him Withhied hi He will look at you and think of what he lost"

"We all lose," says an acerbic voice "We all love and we all lose and we go on loving just the same"

"Elspeth?" Miranda says But she thinks, it’s a trap Just another trap She squeezes Fenny so hard around his asps

Elspeth looks at Fenny She says, "I saw you once, I think Outside theI thought you were a shadow or a ghost"

Fenny says, "I reh you had hardly co to be wasted on my Miranda, I’m afraid," Elspeth says "As for you, my lady, I think you’ll find you’ve been bested Go and find another toy We here are not your meat"

The Lady curtseys Looks one last time at Elspeth, Miranda Fenny This time he looks back What does he see? Does any part of hiain

Then the Lady is gone and the snow thins and bloay to nothing at all

Elspeth blows out a breath "Well," she says "You’re a stubborn girl, a good-hearted girl, Miranda, and brighter than your poor mother But if I’d knohat you were about, ould have had a word or two Stage ood, but better to steer clear of the real kind"

"Better for Miranda," Fenny says "But she has won me free with her brave trick"

"And now I suppose we’ll have to figure out what to do with you," Elspeth says "You’ll be needing so more practical than that coat"

"Co on to Fenny’s hand Perhaps she’s holding on too tightly, but he doesn’t seehtly

So she says, "Let’s go in"

I didn’t tell anyone how dire shit had become

Yeah, maybe my old man could slip a few bucks in an envelope, et carried off by a pack of gangster rats), but he had his oorries He was saving up for , Peanut--probably the ine--had just required an e with the busted grill has dental needs Okay But according to my sis, the procedure cost over three hundred bones, and they had to put my old o hungry this holiday season