Will You Love Me in September

I shrugged my shoulders. "We have a King. We have crowned a King. There will only be trouble if they try to force another on the people.”

"They seem to think here in Hessenfield that it would be a good thing for the people to have James back.”

"It is never wise to decide what is good for others and to try to force it on them because it would be good for us. The people, in any case, will decide what they want.”

"You are a little statesman, I see.”

"If you mean I have some plain common sense, I would agree with you.”

"But what is all this-about your leaving us?”

"Our uncle thinks it better if I leave now, before the trouble breaks out in earnest.

He thinks I should get back to my home in Eversleigh.”

She nodded slowly. "They are on the opposing side, eh?" she asked. "Then is it goodbye for us?”

"Only for the time being. I shall see you again, Aimee. You must visit us at Eversleigh.

I know my aunt Damaris would be pleased to see you ...”

I hesitated. Would she? Would Jeremy? Would Priscilla and Arabella? They would not like to think that Hessenfield had kept a mistress when he had been all but married to their darling Carlotta. But Aimee was my sister. They had a strong family feeling and they would remember that.

She noticed my hesitation and smiled secretly. Sometimes I thought Aimee read my innermost thoughts. Aimee was clever. She was subtle, but perhaps I was a little more astute than she gave me credit for. She expressed great sadness because I was going away but I thought I detected a hint of elation. I wondered if she were a little jealous of my friendship with our uncle Paul and perhaps was rather glad that I was leaving the field to her.

I said goodbye with assurances that we should meet again as soon as was convenient; then I went to my room and made my final preparations to leave. When everything was ready for the early departure I went to bed, but I lay sleepless, fearful that I should not awaken in time, though my uncle had said that I should be called half an hour before dawn, when cold bacon and bread with ale would be sent to my room. Food for the first part of the journey had been put into saddlebags so that we need not stop at an inn until we were well away from the neighborhood.

All went according to plan, and when the first streak of dawn was in the sky I said goodbye to my newfound uncle. I was touched because Aimee had come down to see the last of me.

So in the very early hours of the morning I rode away from Hessenfield and with my grooms began the journey south.

The Captive

As I turned my horse southward I could not help feeling a glow of pleasure at the prospect of seeing my family again. They would be aware of what was going on in the north and worrying about me, I was sure.

The countryside was beautiful on that morning. There were little clumps of gorse in flower on the moors. The mist hung heavily over them, and here and there trees lifted their denuded branches to the sky. We left the open country behind us and came into lanes, past woodlands, and I thought how beautiful the trees were with their bare branches making a lacy pattern against the sky. The winter was more advanced up there than it was in the south, but we should be lucky if we reached Eversleigh before the snowstorms came.

We stopped for a meal in the shelter of a hedge and did full justice to the good things which had been provided for us at Hessenfield. There was new bread and capon, with ale to wash it down with. The four grooms said it was right good fare indeed and the best thing about the northerners was that they knew how to eat.

They were Jim, Jack, Fred and Harry, and they had enjoyed their stay at Hessenfield mainly, I gathered, because of the excess of victuals. Not that they were inadequately fed at Eversleigh, but at Hessenfield there was what I heard one of them describe as "a mountain of vittels.”

They were all delighted, however, to be going home, and they looked upon this jaunt as an adventure.

After eating, we continued our journey, and just before dusk were at the inn which Uncle Paul had told us to make for. The first stage of the journey had been completed with success, and we were all tired and hungry and ready for the excellent meal our host was ready to serve in the inn parlor - hot soup, roast beef and veal-and-ham pie, with cheese and fruit to follow. Fortunately there was room for us all, and we decided to retire early that night and continue our journey at dawn.

After that most satisfying meal I went to my bedroom, which overlooked the inn yard, and it was a great relief to take off my clothes and get into bed; having slept scarcely at all the previous night, I was soon fast asleep.