too early. If there really was to be an attack tonight and she arrived too late to warn her friends, would she follow them, hoping to prevent disaster? Was Ceris brave enough to do that? And did she care enough? He thought so. With any luck she would lead him and a few constables, and perhaps even Wyvern, to a gate smashing and to Rebecca himself. And he would be the one everyone would have to thank for it.
But he would be using Ceris to trap her own people. And he was in love with Ceris. He wished fervently that he had not touched on this subject at all.
He scrambled to his feet and stood looking down the slope to the house for a few moments. Then he turned and reached down a hand for hers.
“It is time I took you home, Ceris,” he said.
“Yes.” She allowed him to pull her up and busied herself brushing grass from her skirt and picking up the empty picnic basket. Her face was like parchment. Even her lips looked bloodless.
“We will call at Tegfan first,” he said. “There is something I must do there. It will take only a few minutes. And then home.” He smiled. “I will come inside with you and we will tell your parents our news, shall we?”
“Yes, Matthew.” She made a pitiful attempt at a smile.
Once inside her father’s house, he would be invited to stay. He would do so, even staying past his welcome if necessary. Past the time when Rebecca and all her followers could be warned to abandon tonight’s outing.
Chapter 20
IT was a night that was sometimes almost light and sometimes almost pitch-black. Clouds had moved over the sky since the afternoon, though they were not in a solid mass. Sometimes the moon and stars beamed down; sometimes they were obscured.
Idris Parry made his way uphill with dawdling steps in the direction of home. He kicked a few stones as he went and then remembered that he was wearing his new boots and had been warned to take care of them. He stopped to take them off and hang them about his neck by the laces. He felt more comfortable in his bare feet, anyway.
How boring it was to be nine years old! He wished he was old enough to join in all the excitement with Rebecca. It was not fair that only men were allowed to go—and Mrs. Evans. He had considered going himself—he had just been watching all the hushed excitement of the gathering—but a boy his size would be spotted in a moment, even on the darkest night, and he would be sent home. Or, worse, his dada would be called and he would have his trews pulled down and his backside walloped in sight of everyone else. In sight of Rebecca.
Rebecca was Idris Parry’s idol. Before going to the meeting place, Idris had hidden outside the old gamekeeper’s hut, where he had waited patiently for over an hour until Rebecca had come and fetched his bundle before riding off with it. On the first night Idris had been fortunate enough to see Rebecca return to the hut, still wearing the disguise. Perhaps he would not have known her identity otherwise.
Now there was nothing to do but go home and sleep for the rest of the night while Rebecca and his dada and most of the other men from round about were out having fun.
But Idris stopped suddenly and crouched down at the side of the path. His ears sharpened and his eyes darted about. He had spent enough nights outside, trespassing and poaching, that he knew when there was someone else out too and close by. There was someone now. He had been walking carelessly. He had to look about to get his bearings. He was close to the lane leading to Mr. Williams’s farm.
It did not take Idris more than a few minutes to move around silently until he saw who it was. It was one of the special constables from Tegfan. Idris had seen him there with the others, talking with the earl—with Rebecca. What a joke that had been! But what was the man doing here? Was he hoping to catch Mr. Williams going out with Rebecca? Dada had said that Mr. Williams could not go because his legs were bad.
And then Idris heard footsteps coming from the farm and ducked down well out of sight. If it was Mr. Williams, then he was too late to go