Truly by Mary Balogh

Author:Mary Balogh [Balogh, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780425153291
Google: 8gLWPQAACAAJ
Goodreads: 110296
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 1996-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Tuesday was wet and windy. But Wednesday was sunny and even warm, and the gentler breeze dried the ground by noon. The sky was clear and blue. The only trouble with the weather, Marged thought as she stood at the pigpen, her arms along the top of it, keeping Nellie company, was that it would be a light night with moon and stars.

Aled had passed the word along yesterday that tonight they would march with Rebecca again.

It would be a great deal easier to cross the hills. They would be able to see where they were setting their feet. But it would be a great deal easier too for them to be seen. Word had it that the Earl of Wyvern and Sir Hector Webb and the other landowners had called out special constables and that they had sent for soldiers. And of course they had issued threats and were searching for informers.

Marged felt far more nervous than she had felt the first time. She found it difficult to settle to anything all day. Her nerves were tense with fear. Fear for herself and fear for her friends. Anyone who is caught will be dealt with harshly, he had said. You know all about that, Marged.

She shivered and tickled one of Nellie's ears. Yes, she was mortally afraid of being caught, of being locked in prison, of being tried and sentenced, of… But fear was not going to hold her back. Fear was necessary for one's own safety, Eurwyn had told her once. But it could also be one's greatest enemy, making one a coward, preventing one from doing what one knew should be done.

No, it was not going to hold her back.

But she feared too for Rebecca. Mrs. Williams had heard—probably from Mr. Harley—that they were offering a reward of five hundred pounds for his capture. Five hundred pounds! It was a vast fortune. Would anyone be tempted? Anyone who knew who he was? There must be some people who knew. But a betrayer would not have to know his identity. He would only have to betray the time and place of the next gate smashing and be sure that constables were lying in wait.

They would catch Rebecca and others too as a bonus.

"Nellie, love," she said, rubbing the pig's snout and straightening up resolutely, "there is butter to be churned and you are keeping me gossiping here. For shame!"

She punished the butter inside the dairy to alleviate her fears. But it was not all fear. There was the inevitable excitement too. Saturday night had been incredibly exhilarating. Although there had been destruction, it had all been done in such a disciplined manner that it had not seemed a thing of horror. And they had accomplished something, she believed. They had shown that there were limits to which the poor could be pushed without fighting back. They had shown that they were not without spirit and courage.

And there was the other excitement too. She had to admit it to herself.

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