Replenish the Earth Read Online Free PDF Page B

Jamieson has spoken of you.’ Then she looked up at the sky which looked grey and full of rain. ‘Perhaps you could call on me at the inn tomorrow to discuss how things stand? For the present, I’m eager to see my house and must be on my way.’
    ‘You’ll be quicker if you cut through the woods. I’ll show you the path.’
    She wasn’t sure she wanted to spend any more time with him, but her hip was still aching and he seemed to take her acceptance for granted. Only burning curiosity made her continue. And hunger - such a great hunger for a home of her own that it was nearly devouring her. ‘Very well. Thank you.’
    Simple courtesy made him offer her his arm, but she hesitated before taking it. Touching him made her feel - strange. But in the end she laid her hand on his arm and they set off, with him letting her set the pace, thank goodness, which was very thoughtful.
    He led her along the side of the lane, avoiding the worst of the mud. Since he made no attempt at small talk and she had never learned the art, they moved in silence, their breath clouding the air around them and the only sounds, the soft muddy beat of their footsteps on the ground. The sounds they made were accompanied by the panting of the dog, now loud, now faint as it quested to and fro.
    At one point, a sheet of muddy water stretched across the whole lane and without asking, Mr Pursley set his hands on her waist and lifted her over it as if she weighed nothing. Sarah could feel her face grow warm with embarrassment. She wasn’t used to the feel of a man’s hands on her body.
    He stared at her as he set her down and seemed about to say something, then clamped his lips shut again.
    They came to a long, high wall, made of some local stone, and in it a gateway, with the wooden gate hanging useless from one hinge.
    ‘This leads through the woods to the house.’ He pushed the gate to one side.
    Only when she thought things over that night, did she realise how instinctively she had trusted him. And yet she’d learned, in places like Furness Road, to trust no one, especially a man. But for all his surliness, Will Pursley had a wholesome air to him. One look at his face showed you an honest man.
    Another thought followed that one in the safety of her bedchamber: he was a handsome man, as well.
    The path through the woods was better drained, but still he kept an eye on the going, ready to point out a smoother route or guide her away from boggy ground.
    ‘You seem to know these woods well,’ she commented when the silence became too heavy.
    ‘Aye. I’ve made it my business to know them since I took over as agent. And to keep a watch for people who shouldn’t be here, but who try to make free of the game - and of other things, too, perhaps.’
    ‘I thank you for your care.’ What other things, she wondered, might people be seeking here?
    Quite soon the trees began to thin out and the house came into view in the distance, surrounded by grassy meadows and occasional clumps of trees. She stopped, letting go of his arm to clasp her hands at her breast, unable to hold back a cry of sheer joy.
    Broadhurst Manor lay nestled in the hollow below them as if it had always been there and had put down great roots to anchor itself securely to the land. It was four stories high at the front, if you counted the attics, and a storey less at the wings, which stretched backwards from where they stood. It was built of mellow red brick, with a neat portico over the front door and two broad, shallow steps leading up to it.
    Sarah fell instantly in love with it, as if something within her recognised it. ‘It’s beautiful!’ she breathed, totally forgetting her companion as tears welled unheeded in her eyes. And it was hers! She who had owned so little before, who had never had even a small house to live in, now possessed a handsome manor house. From where they stood it looked sound enough, and she couldn’t understand why Mr Jamieson considered it