Free Without Sin by Margaret Dickinson Page A

he released her.
    Louisa hurried across the room towards Meg, who dared not meet her gaze, so terrified was she that she would break into nervous laughter. ‘Come, Kirkland,’ Louisa said sharply,
keeping up the pretence of being annoyed at the girl’s interruption.
    Only when the door had closed behind them and they were hurrying up the stairs, their hands pressed to their mouths to stop their laughter, did Louisa touch Meg’s arm and whisper,
‘Thank you. Oh, thank you, Meg.’
    ‘I was terrified he’d come with us because she’s asleep.’
    ‘Oh, you needn’t worry about the master coming to see the children,’ Louisa whispered. ‘He rarely concerns himself with them, except,’ she added wryly, ‘to
administer punishments.’
    ‘But he came to the school room.’ Before Louisa could reply, Meg answered her own question. ‘Oh, I see. He came to see
you
– not the children.’
    ‘Exactly,’ Louisa said dryly.
    They crept down the dormitory and into Louisa’s room. The candle was guttering, sizzling and casting eerie, dancing shadows around the room, but Betsy was still asleep.
    Louisa lit another candle and then gently felt the child’s brow. ‘I don’t think she’s quite so hot.’
    ‘I bathed her face,’ Meg whispered and Louisa nodded approval. She straightened up and stood looking down at the child for a moment before saying, ‘I think we can leave her to
sleep now.’ She glanced round the tiny room as she added, ‘But I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave testing your arithmetic for tonight. We shall disturb her if we stay
here and I really daren’t go back down to the school room. It’s too near his office . . .’ Louisa’s voice trailed away, but Meg understood. ‘Maybe tomorrow.’
    ‘It’s all right,’ Meg smiled. ‘I want to try to see me mam again before I go to bed.’
    ‘Off you go then, dear,’ Louisa waved her towards the door, then paused and said, ‘Oh, just before you go, where is my watch?’
    Meg pointed towards the chest. ‘It’s on the top there—’ she began and then her mouth fell open in horror.
    The watch was not there.

Nine
    ‘Where is it? Where’s my watch? What have you done with it?’ Louisa’s voice rose hysterically, no thought now for the sick Betsy or even the sleeping
children in the dormitory. ‘Have you stolen it?’
    Thunderstruck and hurt beyond words that anyone could think such a thing of her, Meg gasped. She felt her face turning fiery red and knew that Louisa would see it as guilt.
    ‘No,’ she cried as, in the bed behind them, Betsy stirred and whimpered. But Meg was beyond caring too. ‘How dare you accuse me of such a thing? I’d never take a penny
that didn’t belong to me. I’d starve first.’ Dramatically, she held out her arms wide. ‘You can search me. Go on, search me.’
    ‘You’d hardly have it on you, would you?’ Louisa muttered. ‘You must have hidden it somewhere.’
    In a moment the blossoming friendship between Meg and the young schoolmistress was torn asunder. Meg shook her head in fear and disbelief. What was happening to her? From living in a cosy
cottage with her mother, father and brother she had been brought to this – a pauper cast into the workhouse by her own father, stripped of her clothes and possessions, separated from her
family. And now, worse even than all that, she was being branded a thief.
    She thrust her face towards Louisa. ‘Well, I haven’t.’
    But Louisa stood her ground. ‘Then where is it? You’d better find it and be quick about it.’ The schoolmistress’s pretty face was suddenly pale with anger, her eyes no
longer soft and kindly, but dark with suspicion.
    Wildly, Meg looked about her. What could have happened to the watch? Had someone crept into the room whilst she had been downstairs fetching Louisa? Had one of the children—?
    Betsy stirred and murmured. ‘Daddy – I want my daddy.’
    Meg elbowed Louisa aside and wrenched back the covers. There,