The Shoemaker's Daughter by Iris Gower Read Free Book Online

face him. ‘If I gave that impression then I can only apologize once again,’ he said. ‘You are a very brave young woman and a very beautiful one.’ He released her abruptly. ‘And I’m keeping you from your duties.’
    Hari quickly moved to the foot of the stairs, her head bent to hide the blush that warmed her cheeks. ‘I won’t be long,’ she said and hurriedly left the room.
    When Hari returned she saw that Craig was standing at the window looking out into the darkness. His shoulders were tense and there was an air of waiting about him that troubled her.
    ‘The constables are coming,’ he said tersely as he moved back into the room. ‘I hope you are a good liar.’
    Hari shook her head in fear and looked around her as though expecting a solution to present itself.
    Gathering her wits, she hurried into the workshop and picked up a last and a half-tapped boot. Returning to the kitchen, she indicated with a nod of her head that Craig sit on the stool near the fire. She put the last in his lap. ‘Hold it between your knees,’ she hissed and then she stood behind him, leaning over his shoulder as though instructing him.
    ‘ Duw , what’s this interruption then?’ Hari said as the door was pushed open, looking over her shoulder. ‘Oh, it’s you, Dai the Cop-shop, poking your nose in my business, is it? Well, since you are so interested, this is my cousin come from the Neath Valley to help in the business. Want to make anything of it then?’
    The constable looked at Craig’s leather apron and rough flannel shirt and, at last, his eyes slid away from Hari’s challenging gaze.
    ‘Haven’t you always known me to be a respectable girl then, Dai?’ She leaned on Craig’s shoulder as if she’d known him all her life. ‘And don’t go making a noise and waking mam, now, I know she’s deaf but you lot sound like a herd of cattle, mind.’
    Dai backed away. ‘All right, Hari Morgan, only doing my duty I am.’ He turned to look over his shoulder. ‘Nothing suspicious here, boys,’ he called, ‘get on with the search.’
    For a long moment after the door had closed, Craig and Hari remained motionless, so close together that she could feel his breath against her cheek. His mouth, so strong beneath the dark moustache, was tantalizingly close. And then she moved and with trembling hands smoothed down her skirt.
    Craig rose to his feet, placing the last on the table. ‘You are a very resourceful woman, Hari.’
    ‘It was nothing,’ she said quickly. ‘Sleep by the fire, you, I’m going to bed.’
    As she lay between the sheets, Hari felt a great restlessness grip her, she thought of Craig’s face so close to hers and she could barely breathe for the confused emotions that raced through her. But, she told herself sternly, she was nothing but a foolish girl, men the like of Craig Grenfell were not for Hari Morgan.
    Suddenly and inexplicably tears were running hot and bitter down her cheeks as Hari buried her face in the pillow and wept.

4
    Emily Grenfell looked up from her book as the maid entered the room bobbing a swift curtsy, her face red with indignation.
    ‘What is it, Letty?’ Emily said, impatient at being disturbed. She hadn’t been reading at all but had been glancing out of the window not seeing the gracious gardens that surrounded Summer Lodge, but planning ways to help Craig when he came to her. And now that he’d escaped from that awful prison, come he would, she knew that as certainly as she knew daylight would follow darkness.
    ‘There’s a girl to see you, Miss Emily, insists on it she does, quite cheeky she is, mind.’ There was a world of disdain in the young maid’s voice.
    Emily frowned. ‘Insists? Who is she exactly?’
    ‘The shoemaker’s daughter, miss, says she got a message from Mister Grenfell.’
    Emily’s thoughts raced, could the girl possibly know anything about Craig?
    ‘Bring her in to me, I’ll soon sort out just what it is she wants,’ Emily said, rising