At the Dying of the Year Read Online Free PDF Page A

studied his face. She didn’t need to say anything; he knew the question in her eyes.
    â€˜I’m weary and heartsick,’ he said eventually and gave a small smile. ‘Come on, let’s go home.’
    â€˜Emily and Rob will be in the house by themselves if he met her after school,’ she warned.
    â€˜He will have done.’ The lad met her every afternoon when she’d finished teaching. ‘We’d better make sure we’re noisy and slow as we go in.’ He winked at her, picked up the stick and they left together, arm in arm.
    â€˜How have you managed today?’ she asked as they walked down Kirkgate.
    â€˜I’ve been careful,’ he promised her. ‘The most I’ve done is walk to the Moot Hall and back.’
    â€˜Was the mayor glad to see you?’
    â€˜Not as you’d notice,’ he replied quietly. ‘When I took the daily report I had to give it to the new clerk he has. And when I told him about the children his only concern was how it might affect the city.’ He paused. ‘Do you mind if we stop by the churchyard?’
    He could have found his way to the grave with his eyes closed. As soon as he’d been able to walk far enough it had been the first place he’d visited. Rose, their older daughter. Soon it would be two years since she’d died, taken in that awful, killing winter. He stood, threading his fingers through Mary’s. The grass had grown tall, the inscription on the headstone still clear but starting to wear, the edges of the letters no longer so sharp as lichen grew around the words.
    They didn’t need words to remember the girl who’d been so loving and eager to please, barely married and with child herself when death came.
    Finally he stirred, startled to see that full evening had come while his mind wandered.
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ he said.
    â€˜It doesn’t matter,’ she told him tenderly. ‘I feel peaceful here.’
    At the house he was careful to rattle the latch noisily before they entered. It would give Emily and Rob time to make themselves respectable. He’d be disappointed if they hadn’t taken advantage of the time alone.
    The girl had built a fire and the pair of them sat close to it, careful not to look at each other. The Constable smiled inside. Emily might not want to marry but that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in other things with her young man.
    â€˜Did you find anything?’ he asked Lister.
    â€˜Nothing, boss. No one knows anything. But there’s a recruiting sergeant in town.’
    Nottingham rolled his eyes. ‘Find out where he’s staying. I’ll wager there’ll be trouble there tonight; there always is when they’re here. Prepare the men for it.’
    â€˜Yes, boss.’
    â€˜Go and talk to the people down at the camp, too. Someone down there might have known the children. Even names for them would be something.’
    â€˜Mr Sedgwick suggested that.’
    â€˜Good.’ The Constable brightened. ‘And I suppose we should feed you before you start work.’
    Rob grinned. ‘Yes, boss.’
    As dusk became night Sedgwick completed his last round and returned to the jail. The undertaker had taken the children, and he imagined them laid gently into the ground in the darkness before the gravediggers sprinkled a thick layer of quicklime on them.
    The boss might have come back, but the work day had been as long as before, stretching from before dawn to well into the evening. It felt odd to have someone else making the decisions again and telling him what to do. He’d grown used to being in charge. Maybe he would be again; he could see the Constable wasn’t the man he’d once been. The smile was there and his mind seemed sharp enough, but he moved slowly and cautiously, like someone much older than his years.
    The deputy locked the jail door, tested it briefly, then made his way home up