The Betrayal of Maggie Blair - By Elizabeth Laird Page 0,79

been cleared away, Uncle Blair said, "If you're not too tired, brother, after your wearisome trials and travels, can we prevail upon you to read us a word from the Good Book?"

"Certainly," said Mr. Renwick.

He took the Bible from Uncle Blair's hands, opened it, and began to read a psalm. Quite soon he lifted his eyes from the page and recited the chapter without reading.

Does he know the whole Bible by heart? I thought incredulously.

He closed the book at last and laid his hand on the cover.

"Brothers, the sun has long gone down, and tomorrow will be a hard and busy day. Perhaps now is the time to sleep."

"Oh, sir," said Uncle Blair. "Before we go to bed, we—Mrs. Blair and I—have a request to make. As you know, there's no true minister now in Kilmacolm, and we've had no chance to bring our new child to the Lord for baptism. There are so many like us! You'll see them come tomorrow, babies and little children, streaming across the hills to our meeting place above Ladymuir. Will you christen Andrew, sir? Andrew and the others?"

Mr. Renwick gave that smile again, and I had to look away.

"Of course, dear brother." He stifled a yawn. "But now..."

"Aye, time to prepare for bed." Uncle Blair placed a hearty hand on Mr. Renwick's slim shoulder, and the preacher seemed to buckle under its weight.

At that moment one of the serving men, who had gone out to his bed in the byre, put his head back around the door.

"Black Cuffs in the lane, Mr. Blair! And on the moss behind!"

"Lord have mercy upon us!" cried Aunt Blair, jumping up from the table. "Hugh! What are we to do? What if they come here and find Mr. Renwick?"

"Dear sir, come with me if you please," said Uncle Blair, ignoring my aunt.

He thrust open the door into the little parlor next to the kitchen, and the rest of us, crowding in through the door, saw him draw out a ladder from behind the press.

"Stand back! Give me some room!"

I could tell he that he was alarmed from the irritation in his voice, which I had never heard before. He poked the ladder at the ceiling and pushed back a trapdoor between the beams.

"Quick, Isobel. A sheet! Blankets! A bolster!" he said, disappearing up into the loft space.

Muffled noises came from overhead, then his face appeared again.

"Come on up, Mr. Renwick. You'll be comfortable here, though it's not warm, I'm afraid. I slept in this loft myself when I was a lad. There's straw to lie on. They'll not find you, however hard they search the house. What are the rest of you gawping at, like a row of silly sheep? Get away to your beds. If the enemy comes he must find us peacefully sleeping, with nothing suspicious about us. That's right, Mr. Renwick. Mind the third step. It's a little shaky. When I've gone down, draw the ladder up after me and set the hatch back tight."

"So you'll be able to sleep in your own bed after all," I said over my shoulder, to the place where Annie had been a moment before. But she was no longer there.

It had been a long and tiring day, but in spite of my weary limbs, I couldn't get to sleep. The thought of Lieutenant Dundas and his vile troopers creeping about outside, searching every fold of the hills and stand of gorse for Mr. Renwick, made me tremble with fear. Now that the enemy was so close, I no longer felt secure behind the wall of brightness I'd sensed before. Mr. Renwick seemed no more than a sliver of light against great darkness, a being too otherworldly in his courage and beauty for the earthly brutality of soldiers.

If they come for him, I'll fight them myself with my bare hands, I thought fiercely. What was that he said? "God is a man of war!"

The phrase pleased me, and I repeated it to myself, while sleep began to come.

And then suddenly I was wide awake again.

Annie, I thought. Annie. She's up to something.

I went over the events of the past hour carefully in my mind. After Mr. Renwick had gone to his bed in the loft, it had taken the rest of us a good three-quarters of an hour to clear away the last of the meal, damp the fire down for the night, and work through the usual chores, while Ritchie had kept watch, coming back frequently to