and figure. He had been unexpectedly tall and attractive—and attentive. Until he had made it very clear to her one day that he saw her as nothing better than one of his London whores. And the next day, when she had thought he came to the manse to apologize, he had talked exclusively with her father and had ignored her apart from one cold and insolent look.
It was the last time she had seen him, she realized now.
He had had his revenge for his slapped face and unrequited lust that afternoon. He had ignored her groveling pleas for Eurwyn. And Eurwyn had died.
Geraint Penderyn, Earl of Wyvern, had killed her husband.
“Oh, Marged.” Ceris fell back, panting. “I cannot keep up with your pace, girl. You will have to go on ahead.”
Marged slowed her pace again with a smile of apology. Ceris had always contended that the Earl of Wyvern had never received her letters. She herself would not excuse him so easily.
And now he was back. Oh, yes, if he dared to come near Ty-Gwyn, though it was his and she only paid rent on it, she would know how to welcome him. She could hardly wait. And yet for all that she wished he had not come. She wished he had been content to keep his person and his wealth and his consequence and his—oh, his Englishness—in London for the rest of his life.
“Do you really think there is going to be trouble?” Ceris sounded desperately in need of reassurance.
“I sincerely hope so,” Marged said. “It is high time. Other parts of West Wales have not been as slow and as cautious as we have. Perhaps the arrival of the Earl of Wyvern will have one positive result.”
“Rebecca?” Ceris asked unhappily.
“If someone brave enough will play her part,” Marged said. “I would do it myself except that no man would accept a woman as Rebecca. Ironic, isn’t it? I thought that perhaps Aled—”
“Oh, Duw, no!” Ceris wailed. “Not that he is anything to me, of course.”
“Perhaps now that Geraint Penderyn is here in person, people will be able to see that the enemy is very real,” Marged said. “Perhaps now someone will be goaded into leading the protest. There are enough of us, heaven knows, who are willing and eager to follow.”
“Us?” Ceris stopped walking, having reached the lane that led to her father’s farm. “Us, Marged? Surely you would not—”
“Oh, yes, I would,” Marged said fiercely. “I have to be the man at Ty-Gwyn, Ceris. I have to stand in place of Eurwyn for his mam and his gran. Well, then, I will stand in place of Eurwyn in other matters, too. I would like to see the man who will stop me.”
Ceris sighed. “Oh, Marged,” she said, “how wrong you are, girl. Home for dinner now, then, is it?”
“Yes.” Marged smiled. “Home for dinner. Home to wait and see what will happen. But not for long if I have anything to say in the matter.”
She turned to stride onward up the grassy hill track to the white longhouse that had been home since her marriage seven years before to Eurwyn Evans.
Ceris stood at the end of the lane, watching her go. Poor Marged. There was so much bitterness in her, so much hatred. And so much potential violence—as there was in so many people these days. Even Aled . . . Sometimes she wondered if she was the one who was wrong. But it seemed so clear to her that violent protest would only bring more suffering. And hatred had never mended any bridges.
But her thoughts were interrupted before she could turn in the direction of home. Someone hailed her from a short distance across the hill, and she waited for him to come up to her. He was neither a very tall nor a very robust man, but he was dressed smartly in a greatcoat and boots, and he was removing a top hat to reveal smooth fair hair. He was good-looking, Ceris thought, if not exactly handsome.
“Good morning, Mr. Harley,” she said in English.
“Good morning, Miss Williams,” he said. “And a fine morning it is too. I decided to take a walk after church.”
She smiled at him. He frequently took walks after the Anglican service, and their paths often crossed. Deliberately, she believed.
“I am not ready to go home yet,” he said. “I suppose you would not care to stroll with me for half an hour, Miss Williams?”