The Bride Sale by Candice Hern Read Free Book Online Page B

’ee will be likin’ it here,” she added shyly. “I’ll be startin’ the unpackin’ now.”
    â€œThank you, Gonetta.” At the girl’s request, Verity retrieved the trunk key from her reticule and reluctantly passed it to her. Verity turned away, not wanting to be distracted by her possessions and all that they meant to her now that she was alone and cast adrift, without resources, without friends.
    Somehow, after Gonetta’s careful unpacking, Verity must gather up only what she could comfortably carry. She would have to resign herself to leaving the rest behind.
    â€œI wonder, Gonetta,” Verity said, forcing a cheerful tone to her voice, “if you could tell me a bit about Pendurgan and this area of Cornwall. I’ve never been to the West Country, you see, and it is quite unfamiliar to me. As we drove to Pendurgan it was dark and rainy and I could not see much. But I confess the land looked quite barren and rocky.”
    â€œOh, ’ee must o’ come from the north, then,” Gonetta said as she gently shook out a favorite muslin frock and hung it in the wardrobe. It was probably too frivolous a garment and would have to be left behind. “Through the moor,” Gonetta continued. “’Tis a shame ’ee came in that way. ’Tis craggy and harsh in that direction, to be sure. But look here.” She stepped to the window and drew back the curtain. “Oh, it do be too dark to see much, but honest, ’tis quite lovely from the south. There do be gardens and lawns out this way, and the river runs just at the edge of the estate, over there,” she said, pointing to the east.
    â€œOh.” Verity quelled her excitement. A river! If she could make her way outside, it would be simple enough to follow a river. “I did not know there was a river nearby,” she said with feigned nonchalance. “We came from…oh, goodness. I cannot recall the name of the town.”
    â€œGunnisloe, ma’am. Not much of a town, ’cept on market day when folks do come from all over.”
    Yes, Verity knew all about market day in Gunnisloe. She would not attempt escape in that direction. “Are there other towns or villages nearby, along the river?”
    â€œOh, yes, ma’am,” Gonetta replied. “The next big town up river do be Bodmin, o’ course. But St. Perran’s be only a step away to the south. That do be our village, St. Perran’s. Not much more’n a few cottages, the church, an’ a kiddly or two. Mostly miners do live in the village proper. The tenant farmers do be more spread out.”
    â€œFarmers? There is farming at Pendurgan?”
    â€œOh, yes, ma’am. Did his lordship not tell ’ee?” Gonetta clucked her tongue as she folded a muslin and lace cap. “Jus’ like a man to be more interested in the mines an’ all that fancy machinery. But, yes, there do be good farmin’ here. We do grow wheat and barley, and do keep a small herd of sheep.”
    Verity was encouraged by this information. The land she had seen on the carriage ride to Pendurgan could not have supported a bean, much less healthy crops of wheat. And if they kept sheep then there must be grazing land. It would be much less dreadful, she thought, to escape over familiar-looking farmland than across the rocky moors.
    â€œI must say,” she said, “it certainly sounds different from the land we rode through today.”
    â€œLike night an’ day it do be, ma’am,” Gonetta replied. “Night an’ day. Just wait till ’ee do see it in the morning and ’ee’ll know what I do mean.”
    Verity hoped to be well on her way before morning. “I long to see it,” she said. “Tell me, Gonetta. We entered through a courtyard into a sort of great hall—”
    â€œThe Killin’ Hall.”
    A chill crept down Verity’s spine. “Killing