The Shadow of Albion by Andre Norton, Rosemary Edghill Read Free Book Online Page B

not hers. Before she could correct Rose, the girl had
    turned away, collecting a voluminous woolen shawl from a nearby table and
    returning to wrap it about Sarah’s shoulders.
     
    „Mistress says – or she would say if she was here, my lady, how very sorry she is
    that you hasn’t your own things to hand, but never you fret, ‘coz Jem has ridden for
    Mooncoign and't’will not take him long at all, with the Squire putting him up on the
    fastest in all the stables – “
     
    Sarah leaned upon Rose’s arm and stood shakily upon limbs that quivered with
    more than the aftermath of the accident. The girl chattered on nervously, to Sarah’s
    growing unease. The nightdress that had replaced her plain traveling costume was of
    fine Indian lawn, lavished with ribbons and lace and far too fine for the succor of
    some nameless accident victim. And surely all the coach’s injured passengers could
    not be lodged in this splendor?
     
    Rose settled Sarah in a chair before the fire before running to the clothespress to
    return with another shawl to wrap Sarah’s legs. „Is there aught else I can fetch you,
    my lady?“
     
    „I’m afraid there must be some mistake,“ Sarah began weakly, wondering how
    best to explain that she was not whatever highborn lady Rose mistook her for.
     
    „There you are, Rose. I must say – “ What the speaker must say would remain
    forever a mystery. Catching sight of Sarah, she swept a deep curtsy.
     
    „Your Ladyship! How sad that mis dreadful accident should be the cause of your
    visit to my humble establishment – which is, nevertheless, honored by your
    presence,“ Mistress Bulford amended firmly.
     
    „Where are the coach and the other passengers?“ Sarah asked, but apparently her
    hostess misunderstood, for she replied:
     
    „Jem has just ridden back from Mooncoign, my lady. Dr. Falconer is coming,
    with your coach to bear you safe away as soon as you are well enough to travel.“
     
    „What is – where is Mooncoign? I am Sarah Gunningham. I am afraid there has
    been some sort of mistake.“
     

 
    To Sarah’s utter bewilderment, mistress and maid exchanged wide-eyed fearful
    glances. Mistress Bulford moistened dry lips before responding.
     
    „You must soil be sadly shaken by your ordeal. Perhaps you would like some tea,
    Your Ladyship?“
     
    At her mistress’s gesture, Rose dipped another hasty curtsy and fled. With
    Rose’s departure, Mistress Bulford seemed to lose all sense of what to do. She
    seated herself upon a low stool at Sarah’s side and gazed up at her imploringly –
    almost as if Sarah were some sort of public performance, Sarah thought
    uncharitably. Her head pounded abominably, and every bruise she had collected on
    the so-rudely-interrupted coach ride burned and throbbed.
     
    But even so, the sense that had warned her of danger in the forests of the New
    World warned of danger here. This was more than a simple case of mistaken
    identity, and – alone and friendless in an alien land – Sarah must walk as softly as
    ever she had in the wilderness.
     
    „Tea will be delightful,“ Sarah said cautiously, and was rewarded by a faint
    lessening of the inexplicable tension which gripped her hostess.
     
    „So this is Bulford Hall,“ Sarah hazarded next, gripped by a strong sense of me
    absurd unreality of her situation. She, who had always been tongue-tied even in the
    presence of those she knew, was now compelled to make small-talk with this strange
    Englishwoman who stared at her as if she were mad.
     
    „Yes, Your Ladyship.“
     
    „And you, I collect, must be Mistress Bulford?“ Sarah pursued doggedly. She
    smiled, to turn me remark into a jest in the all-too-likely possibility that the woman
    was someone else entirely.
     
    „That’s right, Your Ladyship,“ the woman said in tones of relief. „Don’t you
    remember? When Bulford and I came to wed it was you as sent as handsome a pair
    of silver tankards as ever anyone did see, and