The Silver Collar by Antonia Hodgson

Author:Antonia Hodgson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473615120
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Published: 2020-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

It was a Sunday when Lady Emma returned to the village.

I was alone upon the forest path – on my way to dig up The Tempest and find a safe place to read it. Most Sundays I would walk with Sara the long distance to market to trade what we could, but today she had come up behind me and rested her chin on my shoulder.

‘Go read your book, Jeremiah,’ she said, wrapping her arms about my waist and drawing me close. ‘Perhaps it will help you.’

She had been so patient with me, my impatient wife.

Lady Emma had not come this way since the day Michael was killed, she was forbidden to visit on her husband’s orders, but he must have changed his mind for here she was in a new dress, holding her cream silk parasol and humming lightly to herself, followed by Mr Cradduck, then Mary, in a short procession.

‘Cicero!’ she cried. I remembered her expression when Sir Frederick shot Michael – shock, and then a dark delight. The blood on her dress, her skin.

She smiled, because she knew what was about to happen. ‘Tell me. Where is your daughter?’

The ground fell away beneath my feet. Affie. By the time I had recovered Lady Emma had passed me on the path and was picking her way towards the village, twirling her parasol. Mary touched my arm as she passed. ‘It is decided, Jeremiah,’ she warned me, softly. ‘It is done.’

By the time I reached the village, Lady Emma had found Affie, playing with the other children. ‘There she is! My little pet.’

Frightened, Affie ran to Sara, hiding in her skirts.

Lady Emma smiled as I put an arm around my wife’s shoulder.

‘It is so quiet up at the house,’ she declared. ‘I simply must have a companion or I will turn mad. Sir Frederick agrees.’ She sighed. ‘You see, Cicero – I had a daughter once, but she was taken from me. I shall never recover from the loss. It is a scar across my heart.’

She would have said more, she was preparing for some grand soliloquy, but Mr Cradduck interrupted her. All this time in her company, I suppose he had grown to hate her almost as much as we did. He strode over to Sara and peeled Affie from her arms.

‘Affie,’ Sara moaned. I could hear the grief in her voice – she was already preparing herself for the loss. First her son, now her daughter.

Lady Emma reached out and stroked Affie’s cheek. ‘What fun we shall have,’ she said.

‘Please, she is too young,’ Sara begged. ‘Don’t take her away. Not yet. She is too young.’

‘Do you dare challenge me?’ Lady Emma snapped, her eyes very bright.

Sara knew better than to reply. Her heart was breaking but she said nothing.

Cradduck handed Affie to Mary.

Lady Emma was displeased. ‘I shall carry her home.’

‘She is too heavy,’ Cradduck replied.

‘Yes . . .’ Lady Emma pinched Affie’s arm. ‘We must see to that.’

Affie howled, furious. She reached her hands out for her mother, and when Sara did not come, she howled even harder.

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