Deliver us from Evil Read Online Free PDF

the world seemed wholly embalmed beneath the snow. Robert reached the first line of trees, and called out his father's name; then Mr Webbe's. Again, no reply but the screeching of the owl. Robert sighed and turned - he was growing cold. He began to walk back.
    Then, as he left the trees, he heard the distant sound of hoofbeats ringing through the air, and stared back down the road. From the shadows of the village, he saw a horseman emerge. The rider was cloaked in black, with a hood pulled close so that his face was obscured, and his horse, like his cloak, was a deep, coal-black. At the first sound of the hoofbeats, Robert had begun to run along the road; but when he saw the horseman, he immediately shrank back into the trees, and the nearer the horseman approached the faster he retreated, stumbling through the undergrowth, his heart beating louder and louder in his ears. At the point where the road first plunged into the trees, the rider reined in his horse. The path forked there, Robert knew - there was a track to the left, which led to Wolverton Hall. He dropped to the ground and froze, sheltering behind the branches of an old toppled elm. Then, slowly, he raised his head above the trunk again.
    The rider was still sitting perfectly motionless, a cowled silhouette against the burning stars. Robert imagined all the wood must be pulsing with his heart, so loudly was it beating now, and he placed a hand on his chest to try to calm himself. As he did so, the rider looked round. He sniffed the air; the hood he wore fell fractionally back, and the light of the stars caught his face. He wore a thin beard and moustache, much like Sir Henry's; but in all other respects his face was like no one's Robert had ever seen before, and the merest sight of it filled him with disgust. It was deathly pale, with not a hint of colour in either the cheeks or lips; the mouth was thin and very cruel; the nose nothing but nostrils, the flesh around the bones having rotted utterly away. But it was the eyes which revolted and astonished Robert the most, for they were at once as piercing and silver as the brightest moon, and yet utterly dead, and he wondered what manner of thing might possess such a stare, and he shook his head, for he did not care to know. Then he shuddered, knowing that such eyes had seen him once before, and he prayed silently with all his soul that they would not see him a second time now, defenceless as he was, alone amidst the trees, on so cruel a night.
    Robert held his breath. The rider pricked his horse forward a few paces and sat still again for a few moments underneath the trees. Still Robert did not breathe. He thought he would expire. Then the rider turned suddenly and, with a clattering of iron on frozen mud, the horse cantered away down the opposite lane - the lane which led towards Wolverton Hall. Robert waited where he was, sheltering behind the branches of the tree. Minutes passed until, very cautiously, he rose up to his feet. He looked about him; then he crept out past the trees and back on to the path. It was empty, although the trail of hoofprints was clear in the snow. Robert wondered if he should follow them. Not for long, though. He turned round and, his teeth chattering, began to run towards Wolverton, and the safety of his bed.
    '. . . one of the banished crew,
    I fear, hath ventured from the deep,
    to raise new troubles . . .'
    John Milton, Paradise Lost
    ‘ I
    he next morning, when his father had still not returned, Robert went to visit Emily, and told her all he had seen. As he finished, she shook her head. 'No, no,' she complained, 'you are missing things out.'
    'What things?' he asked.
    'You said you had seen the horseman before. But you haven't said anything at all about that.'
    'Oh.' Robert closed his eyes, then smiled guiltily. 'But I am not meant to tell you. Father swore me to keep it quiet.'
    'Even with me?'
    Robert smiled again.
    Emily mimicked him. She paused. 'Anyhow,' she said, 'it is too late