Shadow on the Highway Read Online Free PDF Page A

took one look at my face and said, ‘What happened?’
    It was such a relief to see his dear face and his easy familiar way of speaking that tears sprang to my eyes again, but I caught hold of myself in time. For Jacob Mallinson was there too, at our table, and I did not want him to see them. That would be just too shaming.
    ‘I’m just going,’ Jacob said.
    ‘No, it’s all right.’ I pulled myself together. I liked Jacob, he was dark and handsome and just to look at him gave me a breathless fluttery feeling inside. I hoped I did not look like I’d been crying. I tried to be casual, behave normally. I took a deep breath and said, ‘Shall I get you some small beer?’
    Jacob grinned and said, ‘Now that’s a nice thought.’
    ‘Where’s Mother?’ I asked.
    ‘Luton, at the market,’ Ralph said. ‘Elizabeth’s got a day off, she’s taken Martha out for a walk.’
    Martha was my little sister. I went to peep in at baby William, who was sleeping in his crib. I did not kiss him for fear of waking him. It was so good to be back in our cottage where everything was within reach and in its right place. I never ever thought this crumbly little place would feel like home, but today it did. I felt like I’d been away for weeks and not only one night.
    ‘Is there no bread?’ I asked, looking into the empty cupboard, and turned to watch Ralph reply.
    ‘There’s no more flour,’ he said. ‘Last year’s harvest wasn’t enough to last us, and there’s no money for grain to grind.’ Ralph’s hands were signing to me too, in a way that made him easy to understand. ‘But Jacob’s said he’ll exchange some of our dried peas for corn,’ he said.
    ‘Glad to,’ Jacob said. ‘But things will be different now. Now we’re following the Diggers way.’
    ‘Aye. It’s time. It can’t come soon enough,’ Ralph said. ‘I swear, Mother will never go hungry again. That bailiff was here again this week, demanding our tithe. And I’ll warrant it will go straight from the Fanshawes’ bailiff to the King, like always. And from the King to his blasted Army to kill good honest men like my father. I’m telling you, when that bailiff showed his poxy face on our doorstep I nearly put my boot in his mouth.’
    ‘Then it’s a mercy someone was there to stop you.’ Jacob said, laughing.
    I agreed with Jacob, though I was too shy to join in the conversation. My brother had such a temper. Like milk waiting to boil over. Not that you’d guess it to look at him – with his angel face, his fair hair shining like gold. I paused in my thoughts to ladle ale into a tankard.
    But he was unpredictable, as if two Ralphs lived in his skin side by side, and you never knew which Ralph you’d meet. Often he was on fire with some new enthusiasm, but other times he’d be bitter and morose. Once he’d nearly strangled a tinker man who’d cheated him of his change, and Elizabeth and I had to pull him away. But Ralph was always ‘good Ralph’ wi th us and never ‘bad Ralph’.
    Ralph and Jacob continued talking, poring over a printed pamphlet that was out on the table. I leant over Ralph’s shoulder as I put down the beer and read the headline. A New - year’s Gift for the Parliament and Armie . Further on, the word DIGGERS appeared in big letters. Another of Ralph’s crazed ideas, no doubt.
    How could I tell Ralph I wasn’t going back to Markyate Manor?
    Just then the door burst open and my older sister Elizabeth flew in. ‘Ma not back?’ she asked, untying her bonnet.
    ‘Not yet,’ Ralph said. ‘You know Jacob, don’t you?’
    Elizabeth threw her ribboned bonnet down, revealing her curly hair, and gave him a cursory smile. I couldn’t help but notice how Jacob’s eyes lingered on her and it gave me a choking sensation in my throat.
    ‘Is Martha outside?’ Ralph asked.
    Elizabeth nodded. ‘Playing with the chickens.’ She narrowed her eyes in my direction. ‘What are you doing here?’
    I didn’t want to explain in