Old Sins Long Shadows (9 page)

‘
What’s wrong, Daniel?’ asked Sally as she looked at Daniel resting his forehead on his forearm against the wall. He didn’t answer at first then turned and reached out to touch a black ringlet of her hair. He felt its softness between his fingers, twirling and shaping it.

‘
You’re a fine woman, Sally. I’m just not up to it tonight.’  He didn’t want to hurt her feelings by telling her why. At thirty-seven she still turned heads, but she was no longer what he wanted. Unknowingly she helped him make his excuses.

‘
You don’t look well, Daniel. Are you sickening for something?’

He nodded
. He was - just not from an illness.

‘
I’d better be going,’ he said giving her a kiss on the cheek. She looked worried and he didn’t want her to worry. ‘I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.’

‘
Are you walking home or did you bring your horse?’

‘
I brought my horse. She’s stabled in Nick’s shed by the hall so I’ll be fine.’  He paused at the door as he made to leave and without turning asked her, ‘Sally, are you happy with the life you lead?’

She smiled,
‘Of course. Strange you of all people should ask me that.’

‘
Don’t you wish you were married again, with a child or two?’

Sally
’s smile faded a little, ‘Well, maybe once, but marriage didn’t suit me. I didn’t marry the right man and I don’t want to make that mistake again.’

‘
If you did find the right man for you, would you marry again and have children?’

‘
Who’d have me?’ she replied with a laugh, ‘I know what people say about me.’

He tou
ched her cheek with his palm, ‘You are a good woman, Sally, don’t let anyone tell you any different.’ Daniel kissed her cheek again and made to leave but Sally caught his arm.

‘
If the right man came along, Daniel, and he asked me, I would marry him that day, but it ain’t going to happen ‘cos the right one don’t come by very often.’ He made to leave but she stopped him again. Looking at him closely, she gave his arm a squeeze, ‘Now take some of your own advice. You are a good man, Daniel, and don’t let anyone tell
you
any different. Is it that girl you’re sickening for?’

‘
You are a fine woman but not a wise one,’ he teased. She playfully slapped his arm at his insult.

‘Get out, Daniel Kellow,’ she laughed pretending to push him out the door. After he had gone she sighed. He was a good man, she thought, no matter the rumours about him killing a man. He had rejected her tonight yet somehow manoeuvred the situation so
she
was the one telling
him
to leave. She smiled again and shook her head in wonderment. There were not many men like Daniel Kellow and that girl was a fool for not realising it.

Daniel saw the lights going out in the village hall as he approached Nick’s shed. Matt stood outside amongst a small group of the younger villagers, one of them being Mary. Daniel decided to look no closer as where Mary was, Janey must be too. He wanted to avoid the woman and just wanted to go home and to bed. Matt called his name but he ignored him and went into the shed. As he fitted his horse’s bridle an out of breath Matt entered the shed.

‘
So glad you came back, Dan, I was afraid you’d gone home.’

‘
Just leaving now,’ replied Daniel reaching for the saddle and placing it gently onto the horses back.

‘
It’s that girl we danced with. I’m worried for her.’

Daniel didn’t want to ask but he did, hat
ing himself for wanting to know. ‘Why, what is wrong?’

‘
Bosvenna Manor’s doors are being locked at eleven thirty and I don’t think she’s going to get there in time.’

Daniel began tightening the girth with a bit too much vigour making the horse side step. He took a deep breath to slow h
imself down and redid the girth again but more gently this time.

‘
Then she should have left earlier,’ he answered.

‘
She was waiting to walk back with Mary, but Mary had arranged to stay with mam tonight.’

Daniel slid his hand between the girth and the horse’s stomach to ensure the skin did not winkle,
‘So?’

‘
So, she’s had to walk the three mile back by herself and there’s no way she will reach the manor in time before it is locked.’

‘
She should have left earlier and not waited for Mary. This mess is of her own doing. She’s nothing to me. Anyway,’ he added, ‘I don’t think she’d accept my help if I offered it.’

Matt stood watching Dani
el, a worried frown on his brow. ‘I’m worried for her, Daniel, and I don’t have a horse to catch up with her. You see, Mary turned the hall clock back by half an hour and Janey didn’t know until she saw the church clock.’  Daniel led his horse outside and mounted, but Matt stood in his way. ‘I know you can help her get in. I know you won’t leave a woman alone in the dark. Anything could happen to her.’  Daniel manoeuvred his horse around him but Matt grabbed the rein and held out something. ‘She left her patten shoes behind, she was that much in a hurry. You can give them to her when you find her.’ 

Daniel looked
down at the wooden shoes in Matt’s out stretched hand. If he had been here he wouldn’t have left Janey to walk to the manor alone in the dark and, as much as it irked him, he knew Matt knew it too. He took the shoes muttering, ‘Damn woman,’ under his breath. Matt beamed and watched him urge his horse into a trot and soon his silhouette was swallowed up in the shadows of the trees that lined the road in the direction of Bosvenna Manor.

Janey had been walking as quickly as she could for half a mile and time was running out. Luckily for her the moon shone down brightly on the road making the track appear like a silvery grey ribbon stretching out before her and leading her home. The night remained still and surprisingly mild considering there were no clouds in the sky to insulate the countryside. The shadows of the trees cast black lacy patterns on the road, marking her journey further away from the lights and noise of the village hall into the isolation and silence of the countryside.

How had she found herself in this impossible situation?  One minute she was waiting patiently for Mary to accompany her home, the next a sickening panic as she realised the church clock was much later than the village hall clock and u
nless her feet grew wings she would not reach Bosvenna in time before the doors were locked. To top it all Mary had told her she was spending the night at her mam’s. She claimed that she had told her of her plans at the beginning of the evening and that she would not be walking home with her. Mary had smugly told her that she should have gone home earlier with Charlotte and Lizzy. Janey was dumbstruck. Had she told her? Surely she would have remembered. She was sure she had not. Perhaps Mary had told her but she had not heard?  Lizzy and Charlotte didn’t seem to know. Whatever the cause for the breakdown in communication, Janey was now walking alone, in the dark and feeling increasingly vulnerable. What if someone came along and attacked her?  No one would hear her screams or come to her aide. No one would even know she was missing until morning. Mary would think she was at Bosvenna and Miss Petherbridge would not know she was not in her room until she failed to turn up for work. Janey’s heart started to beat even faster and she tried to lengthen her strides. Stubbornness and the late hour stopped her from turning around. She knew no one in the village well enough to wake them at this late hour and beg for a bed for the night. Mary had made it quite plain there was no room at her house and she was beginning to realise once she reached the manor the door would be locked. However there were stables in the back courtyard and there was also the gig shed. She could bed down there and enter the house as soon as the doors were unlocked, hoping she would not be seen.

An animal screeched in the wood beyond the hedge making Janey jump with fright
. She stood shaking, her heart thumping in her chest so loud she could hear it pulsing in her ears. Her mouth was dry and a flush of heat ran through her to fade away when her brain rationalised it was an animal and there was no need to run. Calm down, Janey whispered to herself, you’re getting yourself all worked up. Just keep going another two miles and you will be safe. She was about to start her journey again when another sound caught her attention. A rhythmical clicking noise that was familiar yet alien in this lonely environment. She held her breath to listen and she recognised the sound of a smooth trot of a horse in the distance.

Elation t
hat perhaps she could ask for help was quickly transformed to fear of the unknown rider heading her way. All her worries of being attacked came flooding back and as much as she would have liked to think she was brave and not one to panic, she also understood that the wisest thing to do was keep herself out of harms way and hide. She needed to reach Bosvenna unharmed, it didn’t matter that she was late, she had already reconciled herself to the fact it would be a straw bed for her tonight. She had limited time to decide what to do as the rider was fast approaching. In the distance she saw his silhouette appearing and disappearing in the shadows of the trees. Her decision had been made and she slipped from the road into a gateway and behind the hedge. Crouching down she waited in the dark for the rider to pass, ignoring the brambles that caught her hair and dress. She dared not move and listened in silence as the hooves came nearer and nearer. The horse seemed to be slowing down. If the rider had decided to walk his horse from now on it would mean she would have to hide for longer than she had thought. She frowned in concentration, hoping and praying that the rider would pass by as she listened to the horses hooves scrape on the stoney road. She tried to calm herself as a walking horse and rider did not mean she was in more danger. She would just have to wait a little longer to put some distance between them and herself, she thought. However all hope faded as Janey began to realise that the rider had eased his horse to a stop opposite her hiding place. She froze.

Some minutes passed and the rider remained there. Only the occasional scrape of the horse’s hooves on the road told Janey they were still there. Had he stopped to light a pipe?  Was he waiting for someone?  Janey waited, praying he did not know she was there. After all, what choice did she have but to remain in hiding? She could hardly come out and start walking. She had started out hiding but she was beginning to feel as if she was in fact trapped there. Another minute passed, another scrape of hooves on the road surface closely followed by a cold breeze enveloping her and making her shiver. A mans voice broke the silence.

‘
We can stay here all night, Miss Carhart, but I have better things to do, one of them is sleep.’

Janey groaned
. She recognised the voice and quite frankly he was the last person she wanted to see right now. And to be caught hiding, the shame of it. She remained where she was and asked the most stupid thing she could have asked in the circumstances and she instantly regretted it.

‘
Who are you?’

‘
The heathen,’ the voice replied, making it very clear to her that he had not forgotten or forgiven her insult.

‘
Lord have mercy,’ Janey thought, unaware she had spoken the words out loud until her tormentor replied, without humour.

‘
It’s a little late for praying,’ Daniel said.

Janey picked her way out of her hiding place, disentangling a bramble from her hair and dress on her way to stand before him in the moonlight
. Her best dress was muddy at the hem and her hair had partially fallen down. She looked small, young and a little dishevelled but she still tried to muster some dignity. After making a big show of brushing off her dress, she tilted her chin up and met his gaze head on. He looked furious.

‘
Good evening Mr Kellow,’ she said as if there was nothing out of the ordinary, ‘Now if you will excuse me,’ she turned and headed towards Bosvenna Manor. To her annoyance he walked his horse beside her, his dark looming shadow at her side. At first she tried to ignore him but how can you ignore someone like Daniel Kellow?

‘
You really don’t have to accompany me,’ she said

‘
I know,’ his voice was curt.

‘
I am quite safe.’

‘
You are now.’

‘
I was before.’

‘
Is that why I found you hiding in the mud behind a hedge?’ he asked angrily. She threw him a scornful look. Despite the anger on his face his body was relaxed as he rode beside her, as if he made a habit of riding the roads late at night.

‘
You don’t have to do this for me.’

‘
I’m not,’ he replied. She looked up at him again but he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead. ‘I’m doing it for Matt, he was worried about you.’ An awkward silence fell between them.

Janey sighed and said
, ‘Mr Kellow, I will be fine. Thank Matt for me but I am really quite alright.’