"I hoped you wouldn't come here, hoped you didn't care about mister Rich Guy, but alas…" said a cold voice, full of contempt and the same condescending tone. Neil. He appeared so close, in his grey summer cloak, and a white collar of his shirt emphasized his swarthy face. Legan came up very close to the girl and added: "But here you are."

"Neil…" echoed miss White. "What are you doinghere? How did you know I'd be here?"

"It wasn't that hard," he replied calmly, putting his hands in the pockets and walking round her. "I heard that Albert had run off and that Grandma was going to visit you in the Hospital, so I figured out you'd learn everything soon." Neil spoke in a calm manner, as if he were telling this story to a third person. "And I thought if you didn't love him, you'd of course stay there and keep working. But if you cared for him, you'd run here at full speed."

Legan stopped right in front of Candy and looked down at her. His eyes became evil and cold again.

"And here you are."

Candy didn't say anything, suddenly feeling guilty. As though coming here was something bad…

Neil continued to walk back and forth.

"I know where his ship has sailed, I know where he's going. I've been watching him. I can tell it to you and lend you some money for a ticket… So you'll sail right after him, catch up with him and you will live happily ever after in a hut that the savages are believed to build from shit…"

The girl moved backwards in fear, but Neil was pressing on her, getting more and more enraged:

"What, what is he better at than me, I'm asking you? What can he give you than I can't?"

"You're speaking of me as some kind of thing!" miss White resented, which totally drove Legan up the wall:

"Yes, you are a thing!" he screamed so loudly that people at the quay started to look back at them. "You're a thing, although I always tend to forget about it! You don't feel anything, you don't love anyone. But I'll be damned, I'll buy you with the whole bloody schmear of yours!"

He stopped in front of Candy and, seethed by even more anger, shouted at her, shaking his fists at her face:

"Dirty slut! You pretend to be a goddamn tight-ass, and still you're ready to run after him to the end of the world!"

Candy stepped back, but having heard the last cursing, took a swing and fetched a slap across his face.

For some reason, instead of making her angry, his words hurt her, and hurt pretty much. She hit him so that he would shut up.

A slap sounded like a shot, and Neil gripped hold of his face.

"How… how dare you hit me, you dirty orphan?" Legan seemed to be more surprised than furious.

Candy looked at his face – so handsome and so rude.

"Yes!" she said in a pitchy voice. "Yes… I'm an orphan. I have… no parents." The girl took a deep breath, trying to hold the upcoming tears. For some reason, she wanted Neil to feel her pain, to understand her. "Noone… no one can stand up for me. You can abuse me and say whatever you want, you'll be safe. I'm all alone."

Miss White turned around and, feeling she was already crying, went away in a brisk pace. She wished he didn't see her crying again!

"Candy!" Neil called her, and she broke into a trot. The pain in her leg was unbearable.

"Candy!" she heard close to her and ran faster, but her shoe got in a hole, and Candy fell down.

"Candy!" Neil yelled once again, running up to the motionless girl. He took her by the forearm to help her rise, but Candy suddenly winced and cried out in pain.

"Don't touch!"

Legan jerked back his hand, and the girl rolled over to her back. Through the haze of tears, she saw a blue sky with the clouds and his scared face, bent over her.

"My arm…" Candy whispered with whitened lips. "It hurts…" she uttered and closed her eyes. The darkness surrounded her, mercifully saving her from pain.

The last thing she remembered was someone lifting her from the ground and cuddling her. She felt the warmth of this person's body, and a pleasant scent of perfume tickled her nostrils. Then she fell unconscious.