Reckless Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

like a rat in a hole,” Sir Daniel protested. “Do not be absurd, child.”
    â€œThey’ll not come into a plague chamber,” she told him. “No farther than the top of the stairs, if that. The goodwife must tell them there is plague in the house. I will do the rest. Have you some amber pastilles, goodwife, to burn so that it seems as if you try to ward off infection?”
    â€œAye, that I have.” The woman seemed to have steadied herself now. “And vinegar. There was plague in the next village only last month; ’twill not seem strange that we are afflicted.”
    It just might work; might at least give them sufficient breathing space to make their escape. Swallowing his pride and the honor of the Drummonds, Daniel clambered into the linen chest to be near suffocated by camphor as the heavy lid closed under Henrietta’s impatient hand.
    Henrietta struggled to remove the oversize gown before leaping into bed and pulling the covers up to her chin. The air filled with the acrid scent of vinegar as the goodwife sprinkled it over the floor and the covers. Then she lit the wick embedded in a cone of aromatic paste.
    The sound of jingling spurs and the clatter of hoofs sounded from below, and Henrietta opened her mouth on a blood-curdling scream of agony.
    The goodwife, who had no need to pretend to a distraught mien, hastened down the stairs as another scream rent the air. “Oh, mercy, sir, what d’ye do here at such a time?” she gasped, stumbling outside to where a troop of horsemen stood, pike and halberd gleaming in the sun sparking off the close round helmets that denoted their allegiance to Parliament.
    â€œWhat the devil is it?” The captain gazed up at the window where the screams were continuing.
    â€œâ€™Tis my daughter, sir. She ’as the swellings. I’ve tried to cut ’em, but they’ll not burst.”
    The captain paled, instinctively bringing his hand up to cover his mouth and nose as if he could thus prevent taking in the pestilential vapors. “Ye have the plague in the house, woman?”
    â€œAye, sir, God have mercy upon us,” she wailed, burying her head in her apron. “Out of ’er mind with the agony she is, sir.”
    As the captain continued to stare up at the open window from whence emanated those dreadful sounds, a figure clad only in a white shift appeared. She climbed onto the sill to sway perilously, tearing at her body with distracted hands, her eyes wild and unseeing.
    â€œOh, Lord have mercy, sir, she’s for killing ’erself,” gasped the goodwife. “The pain ’tis that bad. Will ye help me tie ’er to the bed, sir? I cannot manage ’er myself, so strong as she is when the madness takes ’er.”
    â€œGoddammit, woman! Ye’d have me infected!” The captain backed his horse away rapidly, a look of horror on his face. “Get inside, ye should all be shut up.” With that, he wheeled his horse and galloped away from the pest house, his troop following, pursued by the frenzied screams that lifted the scalp and sent graveyard shivers down the spine.
    â€œThey have gone,” Henrietta said matter-of-factly, stepping off the broad sill. “I have quite hurt my throat.” She rubbed her throat as Daniel, choking, emerged from the chest and Will rolled out from beneath the bed. They both looked at her in some awe.
    â€œNever have I heard such an appalling racket,” declared Sir Daniel. “’Tis no wonder you have a sore throat.”
    â€œBut the ruse was successful.” She beamed on them. “The goodwife was most convincing.”
    â€œFor pity’s sake, sir, ye’d best be away from here without delay.” The goodwife appeared at the head of the stairs. “The young lady sounded just like my Martha did when the plague took her. ’Tis a sound to strike to the marrow.”
    â€œAye,” Daniel agreed. It was a