Deliver us from Evil Read Online Free PDF Page B

now. I know you have a secret, and if you will not tell me then I shall bother you until you do.'
    Robert considered this point for a few moments.
    Emily wrapped her arms round his neck. 'Well?' she asked.
    ' I should not,' he said at last.
    'Of course not,' she replied.
    'It was last week,' he said, after another pause. 'The Winter Solstice ..." - he frowned - 'the feast-day of Yule.' 'Where were you?' 'Can you not guess?' 'Why should I ?'
    it was on the fields below Clearbury Ring.'
    'Clearbury Ring.' Emily hugged herself. 'Where your tutor was found.'
    Robert inclined his head.
    'What had you been doing there?'
    'Riding. I was with my father. We were practising.'
    'And so that was where you saw him?' Despite her solemn expression, Emily's eyes began to gleam. 'That was where you saw the horseman?'
    'He was in his saddle ... ' - Robert paused - 'in his saddle,' he continued, 'not moving, just watching us. He was in black again, just like last night, with his hood pulled low across his face. That was how I recognised him yesterday night, when I saw him coming from the village - that was how I knew I had to run.'
    'But why?' Emily hugged herself again. 'What had he done the first time, to frighten you so much?'
    Robert wondered, I am not certain,' he said at last. 'He sat where he was for a long while - then he rode down towards us, and galloped past.'
    Emily looked disappointed. 'And that was all?' 'Yes.'
    'Where was the terror in that?'
    'But you have not seen him, Emily. For if you had ... ' Robert paused. He remembered the crawling terror he had felt, like lice across his skin, and knew that he could never hope to explain. I did not want to continue with the riding after that,' he said finally, 'but my father insisted - even though he seemed unsettled as well. And then, not long after, we heard shouting, and a man came hurrying down the hill waving at us. He was screaming there had been a murder, a body found in the centre of the Ring.'
    Emily said nothing for a moment. Then she swallowed. 'Your tutor?'
    Robert nodded.
    'Who was the man who had come running down the hill?' 'Mr John Aubrey. A scholar, from Broadchalke, on the other side of Salisbury.'
    Emily narrowed her eyes. 'And what had he been doing on Clearbury Ring?'
    'My father asked him that immediately, of course.' 'And?'
    'He said he was interested in ancient monuments.' Emily frowned. 'Why?'
    Robert shrugged. 'Because ... I suppose that some people are. Mr Aubrey had gone to Clearbury Ring because he was looking for ghosts. They are meant to appear on the feast-day of Yule.'
    'Why?' asked Emily again.
    'Because the day was sacred to the pagans who iived upon the Ring. They killed people as a sacrifice to the anger of their god.' 'Ju.st like your tutor was killed.' Robert paused. 'Perhaps,' he said at last.
    Emily stared at him, her eyes very wide. 'And Mr Aubrey . . . ' She hesitated. 'Does your father think he might be guilty of the crime?' 'No, I don't think so. No, no, I am certain he doesn't.' 'So who does he suspect?'
    Robert's stare was unblinking. 'Only the one,' he said finally.
    Emily leaned forward. 'And last night, Robert,' she whispered, 'the horseman you saw . . . you are certain - quite certain - it was the same man?'
    Robert turned from her. He crossed to the doorway and gazed out at the road, as it wound through the village up towards the wood. He closed his eyes. 'Quite certain,' he said at last.
    Emily joined him. 'When will your father be back?' she asked.
    Robert shook his head.
    Emily reached to hold his cheeks and met his stare. "The tracks you saw him leave,' she whispered with a sudden tense excitement, 'they will melt with the snow.'
    Robert shrugged. 'Doubtless.'
    'So . . .'
    'So?'
    'We should follow them now.'
    Robert looked away again; but he did not disagree.
    Emily pointed at the sun. 'Midday,' she said. 'It will not be dark for several hours yet." She took his arm. 'We shall not go far. We will only follow the tracks.'
    'Only?'