The Betrayal of Maggie Blair - By Elizabeth Laird Page 0,100

red cloak. No, the one in the blue hood!"

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me! I'm no thief!"

And then there was such brawling and shouting and cursing that the guards began to panic and started trying to shut the heavy gates, pushing them against the mass of bodies.

"Hey, what are you doing, man?"

"Let us in! You can't shut us out."

"Look, will you? Here's my pass!"

The crowd put their shoulders to the gates and heaved them open, forcing the guards back, and then they surged up the narrow passageway ahead with the force of ale exploding from a shaken bottle.

"Ha-ha! An old trick, but it works every time!" chortled Tam, who had raced ahead of everyone else to the top of the steep alleyway, with me at his heels. "Aren't I the clever one, Maidie?"

"Yes, but won't they come after us?" I was looking fearfully back down toward the gate.

"Not them! They won't dare leave their post. Come on now. Supper and bed is what we're needing."

***

If it hadn't been for Tam, I do believe I would have been paralyzed with fright on my first sight of Edinburgh as we emerged from the top of that narrow wynd into the broad High Street. Dumbarton was the biggest town I'd ever been in, and it had no more than thirty or forty houses, only one or two of which had an upstairs part at all. I could never have imagined that so many people could be together in one place. I almost cricked my neck staring up at the vast height of the buildings, which soared six or even seven stories high on all sides. I took a step or two, still looking up, but then my feet slipped in the mush of human filth, and the stench of it hit my nostrils. I had to hold my plaid over my nose to stop myself from gagging.

The din was as bad as I'd feared. People shrieked at each other out of the open windows. Barrels rumbled as they were rolled over the cobblestones. Peddlers shouted. Hooves clattered.

Behind me came a rattle and a barking command.

"Tam! Soldiers! We've got to hide!" I cried out, my knees turning to water at the sight of a troop of red coats.

He seemed unworried but pulled me into the side of the reeking street.

"They're not on the hunt for us. But it would be best, maybe, to get on. It's a bit too open up here for me. Stay close now, while I find my way. It's down one of these long wynds, I know, but which one?"

I pulled my plaid up over my head and scuttled after Tam, though I couldn't help looking around at the astonishing sights of the city. I saw chair boxes being carried on poles by two men, with a lady sitting in the little room inside, jewels flashing, silk dress gleaming. And the next moment, I was gaping at the sight of a pair of gentlemen in wigs of flouncy curls so long they hung down below their shoulders, who were mincing between the piles of filth in high-heeled shoes.

I'd been staring open-mouthed at a man with a big bright green bird sitting on his shoulder when I came back to myself and realized that Tam was nowhere to be seen. I was about to shout for him when his long arm shot out from the shadows behind me. He tugged at me so hard that I almost lost my balance.

"We'll need to wait out of sight for a moment," he whispered in my ear. "There's a couple of fellows coming down the street that I'm not too keen to see."

He stepped farther back down the steep narrow passageway.

"Why, isn't that a stroke of luck! This is the very place. A little way down here, these steps, the old door—come on, Maidie! Here we are, at old Virtue's place. Aren't I a clever Tam? There's a welcome waiting, I promise you."

I tumbled after Tam down a short steep stair into a cave-like room that was lit only by a single rush flame. From lines stretched across the low ceiling hung a mass of old torn plaids, holed blankets, coats and gowns worn to shreds, and rags in the last stages of rot. Ducking under these, we came to the far end of the room where an old woman was hunched over a cooking pot in the small chimney place.

"Virtue, my sweetheart!" caroled Tam, dancing up to her with his