The Bleak Midwinter by L.C. Tyler

Author:L.C. Tyler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472128560
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

There is enough evidence of lighted taper through the shutters to show that the Platts are at home, though I do not know where else they might be on such a night. Though Margaret might be wise to flee the county, this is no weather for going anywhere. The wind stings my cheeks. My cloak seems scarcely to provide any protection at all. My fingers are numb inside my thick leather gloves. This is cold that can kill, if you stand still long enough.

I bang on the door with my fist. There is a silence, then the shuffle of feet, then the noise of a large bolt being pulled back, clean, oiled metal sliding over metal. The door swings open.

‘Sir John!’ says Jacob Platt. ‘Why . . . But you must come in. You will freeze out there. And no horse – you walked here? Surely not?’

‘It was more convenient in many ways,’ I say.

Platt raises his eyebrows, but makes no protest. I have done enough lately to convince the village of my oddness. Choosing to walk when I could ride is not as strange as my refusal to believe in ghosts and witches.

‘Do you wish to speak to me, Sir John?’

‘I need to speak to Margaret again,’ I say.

‘Could it not wait until tomorrow? Margaret is much fatigued by today’s proceedings, as you will imagine. She is asleep.’

‘I’ve come a long way on foot on a cold night,’ I say. ‘If it could wait until tomorrow, I would be in a warm bed myself, under a heap of blankets.’

Platt nods. ‘Of course,’ he says. He knows from my previous visit that I am not to be put off easily and certainly not after a dark walk on a snowy night. ‘I’ll wake her. My wife will bring you some mulled ale while you wait here by the fire.’

I rub my hands and hold them as close to the flames as I dare. In the next room there is a whispered conversation, too quiet for me to make out any words, and then feet ascend the wooden stairs to the next floor. I look round the parlour. After my cold walk it looks even more inviting than it did last time I was here. Logs smoulder quietly on a deep bed of grey ash in the great fireplace. The new silver gleams on the oak dresser. The country grows comfortable, and the Platts with it. I am the King’s representative here, but it is men like Platt on whom the King depends for their support and for their taxes. The King’s ministers can send their candidates to stand in Parliamentary elections, but it is Platt and his fellow freeholders who decide whether they will be returned. This King, unlike the last one, will not risk dismissing Parliament and ruling alone. Things are not as they were when Sir Felix was born.

Mistress Platt fusses in with a tankard of hot spiced ale. A loose, shapeless woollen robe, reaching almost to the floor, completely covers her nightgown.

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.