Miss Landon and Aubranael (Tales of Aylfenhame Book 1) by Charlotte E. English

Author:Charlotte E. English [English, Charlotte E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

***

Ye may be able t’imagine my feelin’s when Pharagora came back wi’ the news. The Goblin King! In my town, messin’ about wi’ Miss Sophy! An’ that Mr. Stanton bein’ somebody else entirely! I don’t like to leave the bridge unattended, as a rule, but what could I do? Miss Sophy had t’ know! Off I went wi’ barely a second thought. I caused a bit of a stir rampagin’ through Tilby, but it ain’t like anybody’d dare to stop me, now is it?

Aubranael was in too much of a hurry to walk—or even to wait for the carriage to be prepared. He called for his horse to be saddled with the utmost urgency, and within ten minutes he was astride and on his way to the parsonage.

It was an anxious ride. He barely noticed the beauty of the golden sunlight filtering through the leaves of the roadside trees, or the sweet, cooling breeze that swept over the fields; his mind was too busy with the problem of how to tell Miss Landon that he had lied. The short journey stretched interminably, and he could have sworn he had covered three times the distance before he finally came within sight of Miss Landon’s home; but he had no better idea of how to confess than when he had started.

He pulled up his horse just outside the parsonage, jumped down and hastily secured the bridle to the house’s gate-posts. All the while his eyes searched the house for any signs of Miss Landon. What would he do if she was away from home? He would have to sit and wait for her to return.

He all but ran up to the front door, and, seizing the brass knocker in a hand that shook, he hammered it against the solid wooden door several times. When no one answered after a few seconds, he hammered again; and he was just about to begin for the third time when the door swung open. On the other side stood a shortish, stoutish woman of middle years with untidy, grey-brown hair. She wore the plain, practical clothing of a servant, along with an expression of alarm on her lined face.

‘Mary!’ he gasped. ‘Is Miss Landon at home?’

Mary shook her head, and his heart sank. ‘She went out more’n an hour ago,’ Mary said.

‘When will she be back?’

‘Oh,’ said Mary cautiously, eyeing him with some suspicion. ‘Reckoned she’d be gone a while, so she said.’

Aubranael blinked. A while? What did that mean? A few hours—or days? He asked, but Mary merely shrugged. If she knew the answer at all, she was not inclined to tell him.

‘Is something amiss?’ Mary asked.

He sighed, leaning his shaking hand against the doorframe. ‘Somewhat,’ he said bitterly. ‘It is most important that I see her. I need to speak to her on an urgent matter.’

Mary softened slightly, her suspicious manner relaxing. ‘I cannot invite you in, not with the mistress gone,’ she said apologetically.

‘Certainly I would not presume to intrude,’ he said hastily.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.