The Daughters of Eden Trilogy: The Shadow Catcher, Fever Hill & the Serpent's Tooth Read Free

She told him that her father was a soldier too, but that his leave had been cut short, and he’d been ordered to Africa. ‘To the Sudan,’ she said. ‘That’s a desert below Egypt.’
    He nodded, but did not turn round.
    ‘Papa’, she said to his back, ‘is a major in the 65th York and Lancasters. To which regiment do you belong, sir?’
    ‘The Borderers,’ he said, still without turning round.
    ‘Mm,’ she said brightly, for want of more informed comment.
    The crow appeared and began to follow them. From the safety of the horse’s broad back, Madeleine gave it a cool glance.
    ‘My mother’, she went on doggedly, ‘generally stays at home with me. She used to go for long walks, but Dr Baines has forbidden them because of my sister-or-brother. She takes extremely good photographs, and she detests Scotland, for she can never get warm. But she pretends to like it for my sake. I was born here, you see, so it’s different for me.’
    By now she was desperate for him to respond. And she was dismayed when the gatehouse rose into sight.
    As they emerged from the trees, the sun came out from behind a cloud and the crow took off with an indignant squawk. Madeleine laughed with delight, and at last the officer turned and looked up at her. He didn’t smile, but she could tell that he was smiling inside – for his eyes were no longer cold, but warm and vividly alive, like a restless sea with the sun on it.
    He swung her out of the saddle and set her on the ground, and she thanked him for the ride. The horse put down its nose to be stroked.
    Flushed with the sense that the officer might at last be beginning to like her, Madeleine decided to ask him home for tea. Apart from Dr Baines, they never had any visitors at Cairngowrie House, so it would make a welcome change. She would ask him to tea, and he would make friends with her mother, and she herself would ride the great horse skilfully down to the beach to meet the seals.
    ‘I ought to introduce myself,’ she said as she extended her hand. ‘My name is Madeleine Falkirk. My parents are Major and Mrs Falkirk of Cairngowrie House. I thought you might care to come to tea.’
    The officer had been passing the reins back over his mount’s head, but when she said her name he stopped. ‘What did you say?’ he said quietly.
    She had a sudden terrible sense that the sun had gone in. ‘M-Madeleine Falkirk,’ she faltered. ‘I thought you might like to . . .’ Her voice trailed off.
    The horse nudged the officer’s shoulder, but he did not seem to notice. His face was rigid with shock. ‘My God,’ he murmured. ‘How could they do it? To send a child .’
    She swallowed. ‘Nobody sent me,’ she said.
    Plainly he did not believe her. ‘Your name isn’t Falkirk,’ he said between his teeth. ‘It’s Durrant.’
    ‘No, Durrant was actually my mother’s—’
    ‘Your mother is Rose Durrant. Yes, I know.’ He mounted his horse. Madeleine had to step back smartly to avoid his spurs.
    She was familiar with grown-up anger from her parents’ fights, but this was different. It was no sudden flare-up that was over in minutes, but a deep, slow anger that had no end.
    She didn’t understand what had gone wrong. She sensed that without knowing it she must have tricked him in some shameful way. She felt hollow and breathless and sick.
    ‘Tell your parents’, he said, ‘that this will never work.’
    ‘They don’t know I’m here,’ she whispered, scarcely moving her lips. ‘And they wouldn’t trick anyone. They are honourable. They—’
    ‘Your parents wrecked lives. Don’t you know that yet?’
    For the first time since they had met, he looked her full in the face. His eyes were glassy with anger, the pupils black and alarming in the vivid light grey. ‘Tell them they’re dead to me,’ he said in a quiet voice that made her go cold inside. ‘And they’re dead to the old man. Tell them they ought to have the courage – the decency – to stay dead.’
    He