Besieged Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rowan Lindley’s kindness those many years back.
    “As you can see, m’lady, his good heart was our salvation. I don’t know how I would have managed without it,” she said in her soft lilt.
    They sat down in a small private room to a meal of roasted lamb, onions, carrots, and potatoes. There was also a fat duck stuffed with bread and apples; a broiled salmon with dill; fresh bread, butter, and cheese. There were wine and ale both.
    “I’m sorry we can’t remain the night,” James Leslie remarked as he loosed his doublet and pushed his pewter plate back.
    “If we did we shouldn’t be able to reach Maguire’s Ford by late tomorrow, my lord,” Rory replied.
    “Where will we stop tonight, Maguire?” the duke asked.
    “The only place we can, Sir John Appleton’s manor,” came the reply.
    “Is he still alive?” Jasmine wondered aloud. “As I remember he and his wife were terrible snobs, and extremely unpleasant toward the Irish. He had done something minor in old Queen Bess’s court.”
    “He’s alive all right,” Rory Maguire said darkly, “and he’s but grown meaner with the years. His lady died, but his daughter and son-in-law live with him. They’re no better than the old man.”
    “It sounds a right treat,” James Leslie muttered.
    “Oh, they’ll fall all over you and her ladyship, my lord. ’Tis the rest of us that will be given short shrift,” Maguire chuckled.
    “There’s no place else?” James Leslie queried.
    Rory Maguire shook his red head, making a mournful face as he did so.
    Sir John Appleton was now a fat old man with a gouty foot. His daughter, Sarah, and her husband, Richard, were spare and sour. They were openly flattered to be entertaining the duke and duchess of Glenkirk and their heiress daughter. They sat Fortune next to their son, John, and hoped for a miracle. They did not get it, for John, normally a loud bully, was struck dumb by Lady Fortune Lindley’s beauty and air of self-assurance. She was like no other girl he had ever met, and he was frankly intimidated by her. For her part Fortune ignored him. Young John Appleton had a spotty face and damp palms. The fact he was so silent and lacking in interesting conversation did not stand him in good stead with Fortune. She thought him rather foolish.
    “The reputation of yer horses is widespread,” old Sir John remarked. “I’m amazed considering ye’ve got Irish Catholics working on yer estates. They’ve robbed ye blind, no doubt.”
    “I have both Catholics and Protestants working on my estates,” Jasmine said sweetly. “Both render me good service, and I find no difference in them, Sir John. They are all decent people.”
    “Idol-worshipping papists,” the old man said venemously.
    “Catholics don’t worship idols,” Fortune suddenly snapped, highly irritated. “They worship God. What twaddle!”
    “Madame! Reprimand your daughter. She is much too forward, and wrongheaded,” Sir John snapped.
    “Fortune, please apologize to Sir John. He cannot help his ignorance,” the duchess of Glenkirk said to her daughter.
    “Yes, Mama,” Fortune remarked meekly. “I apologize to you for your ignorance, Sir John.” She smiled sweetly. Then rising, Fortune curtsied prettily. “I must retire now,” she explained, and left the room.
    Sir John and his family were not certain at all that Fortune had really apologized, but they dared not argue further with the duchess of Glenkirk. The girl was not at all suitable for their young John, they silently decided. She was much too pretty, and far too bold. Undoubtedly she would come to a bad end. They were not unhappy in the least when their guests announced they would seek their beds.
    Rory Maguire, Adali, and Rohana had been grudgingly served a meal in the kitchen of the great house. The servants were suspicious of the Irishman, and his two foreign-looking companions. After they had eaten they were told that Rohana could go with her mistress, but the two men would have