A Trust Betrayed Read Online Free PDF

horse. The beast had responded to her gentling murmurs and did not panic again, God be praised. Margaret glanced round to see how the others fared. Celia stood beside the elderly woman and boy, all three hanging on to the side of a cart. She seemed to ride the rolling boat well. There was hope for her.
     
    Turning the other way, Margaret found the friar’s eyes on her.
     
    He nodded. “That was brave, what you did. You have a calming way with a horse.”
     
    “It is what was needed. I thank you for your concern.”
     
    The friar bowed slightly. “Travelers help one another. You are kin to Father Andrew?”
     
    “His sister.”
     
    “He escorts you to some happy event?”
     
    “No, he does not.” She turned away, not liking his interest. Friars were known to prey on women and to be the confidants of thieves. Fortunately, Andrew was making his way to her, balancing himself like quite the seaman. He looked grave.
     
    “You heard that there are soldiers at Dalmeny. Keep your eyes downcast, speak only to answer if necessary.”
     
    “What are you afraid I shall say? Tell me of what I should not speak.”
     
    “It is best to let me speak for you.”
     
    He was so solemn he frightened her. “I shall be silent. But I cannot learn what is unsafe if you tell me nothing.”
     
    “Just do as I say. And if a horse frights while we are in their sight, let the men handle it.”
     
    Andrew was angry she had come to the rescue of his servant? Sweet heaven, he could be such a fool. But Margaret was too uneasy now to argue or ask more questions.
     
    Her wet, cold clothes clung to her. Doubt churned her stomach. She dreaded their arrival in Edinburgh—the soldiers, the occupied town, the uncertainty of Uncle Murdoch’s reception.
     
    As a child in Perth she had been a favorite with her uncle, and he with her. He understood how much her mother’s fits frightened her and took the time no other adult had taken to explain that Christiana was seeing things that were occurring at another time, like a vivid memory, but in the future. All Margaret could see was that her mother would stop in mid-gesture and stare, sometimes shake her head and speak gibberish, sometimes laugh or weep, occasionally shout or scream. Murdoch Kerr had been living in Perth at the time. He told her that he for one thanked the Lord that his little Maggie was not to follow Christiana’s path.
     
    It was because of that long-ago kindness that Margaret now expected her uncle’s cooperation in her quest. He would be proud of her taking action like this; he would commend her on being so much more practical than her mother. Andrew seemed compelled to remind her that she had not seen much of their uncle since his late wife’s family drove him away from Perth. Smuggling was fine when their kin were reaping the rewards, but once Murdoch’s wife was dead his reputation embarrassed them. Still, Margaret believed that Murdoch was a man constant in his affections.
     
    “Time will tell whether you can count on him, Maggie,” Andrew had said just before shuttering the lantern last night. She blamed him for her wakefulness.
     
    3
     
    Are Not   So Fine
     
    The road from Dalmeny led round Castle Hill to the West Port gate of Edinburgh. Andrew showed his abbot’s letter of protection, as he had when they disembarked. Margaret kept her eyes downcast and let Andrew answer the soldiers’ queries about her and Celia. She wondered whether all who came to the town must submit to this, if all townspeople who had business without the town faced such inquisitions at the portals. She felt like a sheep being tagged and herded from field to fold.
     
    Once within the gate, Margaret lifted her eyes, curious to see the Grassmarket lacking stalls, tents, crowds, livestock. To her, Edinburgh had always meant fairs and feasts. This Edinburgh she had never seen. The knoll was rutted and pitted and puddled. In one corner a siege engine warped in the rain. The echoing