The Lantern Moon by Maeve Friel Read Free Book Online

we’ll both be in trouble. I’ll be back as soon as I can. There’s probably some stuff in here you can wrap yourself up in if you get cold. Just remember, not a sound.’

Chapter 5
    Libby was home alone. A cattleman had called earlier to say there was a letter for Mrs Kezia Spears just come in on the mail coach from London.
    â€˜I just happened to be in the square when the coach came in,’ the man explained. ‘I heard the bailiff shout across to Master Evans; “You’re Kezia Spears’ landlord, aren’t you?” he said. “Well, there’s a letter here for her you might want to give her.” I saw William was just on the other side of the square. He was coming out from Quality Square with his handcart all piled up with hatboxes and I thought Evans might have called him over but he just put the letter in his pocket without even looking at it and marched off. I reckoned you might want to go and fetch it right away,’ he went on, rather embarrassed. ‘I expect it’ll be from John, won’t it?’
    Libby’s mother could not believe her ears. She went all to pieces. There was only one person in the whole wide world who would send her a letter for she knew no one outside ofLudlow. It had to be from John, alive and thinking of her still after the long years of silence.
    â€˜This is the best news I have heard for many a year! A thousand times thank you!’ Kezia said. ‘But where is the letter now? Where can I go to fetch it?’
    â€˜Evans is going to the ball, isn’t he? I dare say you’d find him if you go to Castle Square. I’d walk up there with you myself but I’m off to Hereford market in the morning and still have the cart to load up.’
    â€˜Libby,’ Kezia had said to her daughter when the man had gone, ‘will you wait here for me and be a good girl? It’s too cold to take you out on a night like this and I shall get up to the square and back faster if I go alone.’
    Libby’s bottom lip had turned inside out.
    â€˜No, Libby,’ said Kezia, warningly. ‘You mustn’t act like a baby. You’ve nothing warm enough to wear out on a bitter night like this. You stay here and finish stitching that glove. I’ll be back before the candle’s half way burnt down.’
    She undid her apron and folded it on the table. As Libby looked on with wide, frightened eyes, her mother pulled on her coat and wrapped another shawl around her head and shoulders. ‘I will only be gone for a few minutes, Libby,’ she pleaded. ‘Then, when I get back, we’ll read the letter from your father and have our supper.’
    â€˜Does this mean you won’t have to marry Mr Evans?’ Libby asked.
    Kezia kissed her tiny daughter on the top of the head.‘Don’t worry, my pet, I will not marry Mr Evans.’ She lit a fresh candle and placed it in the centre of the table.
    â€˜Ten minutes, my love, and I’ll be back.’
    Libby heard the heavy iron key turn in the keyhole and her mother’s light steps going down the stairs to the street. At first she sewed a little more of the glove she was working on but with no one to watch over her, she soon got bored and threw it aside.
    I hate gloves, she thought, with feeling. When I am big, I shall never wear them.
    The room was so cold even the insides of the windows had frosted over. She clambered up on to a window-sill, and cleared a small round peephole in one of the panes so that she could keep a watch for her mother’s return. The street was empty. The wooden slats beneath the eaves rattled in the cold east wind. The leather skins hanging above her head trembled in the breeze. The tallow candle in its saucer tilted and fell over. With her back to the table, Libby did not notice the flame of the candle licking around the discarded glove, catching the apron strings, running along the table cloth, spreading down the leg of the