Ambergate Read Free Page B

was as eager for Miss Jennet’s good word as I was, and a jealous girl. I did not trust her, though Aggie did. Aggie still
     called her by Leah’s name for her—Dog—though with Aggie it was said with affection. She is indeed like a little dog that will
     nip you when you think you have made friends.
    “What are you doing?” Doggett’s voice. Always there when not needed.
    “Fetching a quilt for Miss Jennet.” I could feel my heart beating. It was so hard to stand up to Doggett. “She’s not well.”
    “Not well?” I was surprised to see that Doggett lookedtaken aback, shocked even, her little eyes darting here and there as if for reassurance. “I’ll go to her.”
    “There’s no need. She’s comfortable, and sleeping now.”
    “I’ll take her some supper later, then. Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen, preparin’ it?”
    “I will be soon,” I said meekly, and I went.
    When I delivered the quilt to Miss Jennet, she said, “You’re a good girl, Scuff.”
    “Not good,” I said in a low voice, thinking of my secret crime and suddenly longing to tell it to Miss Jennet this very moment.
    “Very good.” She smiled and stretched out her hand. I took it, the palm hard in mine but the fingers surprisingly, disconcertingly,
     frail. I thought she must be ill indeed to be so soft with me. I left her shortly afterward, once I’d seen her lie back beneath
     the warmth and close her eyes; and I hurried back along the passage, through the growing shadows to the back stairs, for I
     didn’t want supper to be late.
    Even as I reached the top of the stairs, I heard the noise funneled upward from below: dogs barking, running feet.
    It was so strange in the usual quiet of Murkmere that I stood rooted to the spot. And then Aggie was running up the stairs
     toward me. She was breathing fast, her hair tumbling down.
    “Scuff! There are three men—soldiers, I think—riding down the drive!”
    I stared at her and caught her fear, and my hand went to my mouth. She pulled me over to the window, and we looked out into
     the fading light. We couldn’t see the men’s faces, butthey were in uniform and they rode highstepping black horses. These men were important, and they looked set on important business.
    Aggie turned to me, her eyes frightened. “Whyever can they be coming to Murkmere?”
4
    The light was waning when the three soldiers reached Murkmere Hall. The stable yard was deserted; a solitary pony whinnied
     from one of the dark stalls.
    They dismounted in the gathering shadows and tethered their horses to iron hoops in the wall. Mather kicked at the weedy cobbles.
     Chance watched his lip curl and knew what he was thinking. Mather liked control and order. He was used to immaculate stables,
     grooms standing to attention, lackeys with flaring torches.
    “We’ve surprised them,” said Caleb Grouted with satisfaction. “That’s how we want it, isn’t it, Chief?”
    Mather cocked his gray-stubbled head to the frenzied barking inside the house. “Not for long, I fear, Lieutenant.”
    He began to walk over to a back entrance, a plain but imposing wooden door set in the stone. “It seems the Mistress of Murkmere
     employs neither ostlers nor groundsmen. One wonders if she runs the whole place with four-legged servants.”
    Caleb sniggered, but then he looked up at the blank façade of the house with its shuttered windows, and some of theswagger left him. He touched the amulet of egg-sized amber beads around his neck. “We’ll demand supper and shelter before
     we start our questioning, eh, Mather? My father would expect hospitality from Miss Cotter. After all, she’s managing this
     estate for him.”
    “Yes, indeed, Sir,” said Mather drily. He nodded at his bodyguard. “Try some vigorous knocking, Corporal Chance.”
    Chance was strong, and his gauntleted hands sounded like hammer blows on the wood. The dogs’ barking grew muffled, as if they
     were being shut away. All the same, it took some time