The Tweedie Passion by Helen Susan Swift

Author:Helen Susan Swift [Swift, Helen Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Creativia
Published: 2016-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

LIDDESDALE

SEPTEMBER 1585

We rode down from the Nine Stane Rig where my faithfulness to Robert had been tested and my passion had emerged victorious, and we rode up Liddesdale in full view of everybody.

Now, you may not know that in the Borderland all the major people were known to each other and were recognisable by sight and by name. Despite the size of the area and the number of people, it was really quite a close community, so when we walked our horses down from the ridge and stepped boldly up the valley, I felt certain that somebody would realise we were strangers and shout out a challenge.

What I had not reckoned with was the nocturnal nature of the Borders. It was an elemental mistake I made. Hugh had not made the same error. With so many of the men engaged in night-time reiving, only women, children and ordinary farmers were abroad in the early morning. That, added to the shifting, uncertain light of autumn and Hugh's iron nerves, worked in our favour.

I was inclined to rush, to try and pass through the valley as quickly as possible so pushed in my spurs to hurry things along.

'Slow down,' Hugh's voice was calm as his hand rested on the bridle of my horse. I could not resist the temptation to touch it. 'We are ordinary men going about our business. There is no need to rush.'

He was right of course. Respectable travellers, even in such an extraordinary locality as Liddesdale, did not rush. They move at a steady pace, as Hugh insisted we do, and nodded to people they passed, even taking the time to remark on events to whosever they met on the road.

'Well met, fellows!' The cheerful call took me by surprise so I nearly jumped up from my saddle.

'Well met,' Hugh responded with a lift of his hand as the small group of people reined up in front of us to pass the time of day. I looked up briefly from beneath the brim of my helmet. There were five in the company, two women and three men.

'Are you bound for Hawick, friend?' The leading man seemed inclined to speak. He was a young looking man with a neat beard and an air of obvious authority.

'Hawick and points north,' Hugh said. 'Peebles if we can get there by night-fall. And yourselves?'

The bearded man laughed. 'Hermitage Castle for a night or two,' he said, 'and maybe some sport.'

'There is ill sport in Liddesdale,' Hugh responded.

I was less interested in whatever sport this gallant young blade intended than in the attention that both women in his train were paying in me. Perhaps men believe that they can spot a pretty woman a mile away, as many of my Lethan boys claimed, but it is a fact that women are more perspicacious than men. These two were studying me and whispering together behind raised hands and with wondering, calculating eyes.

'Ill sport?' The gallant man asked. 'Why is that, pray?'

'Why, sir,' Hugh said with a laugh.

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