Free The Constable's Tale by Donald Smith

Harry was explaining this, Natty stepped through the doorway, bending his neck to the side to clear the top. He had the rangy look of a runner. A narrow face with sharp features, pale blue eyes, and neck-length hair going raggedly gray, tied in back with a ribbon. He had on an open-throated deerskin hunting shirt and leggings. A necklace of blackened shark’s teeth gleamed with moisture against his sweaty chest.
    He slapped the burlap sack he was carrying down on a chair. “Coriander,” he said. “I’ve found a wild stand of it up toward Sandy Creek.”
    After exchanging greetings, Harry told him the news about the murders. Natty made a frown. “The Campbells was good folks,” he said, tearing apart some of the good-smelling leaves from the bag with his fingers and letting the bits fall into the stew. “I’m sorry to hear about this.”
    “Natty, I’ve seen Comet Elijah. He’s come back. He has a camp a couple miles from here.”
    “I knew we’d not seen the last of him. How did he look?”
    “Old. And smaller than I remember. But not too bad for a man that age.” Harry decided not to mention the part about Comet Elijah’s ótkwareh .
    “Well, he can stay here anytime he likes.”
    “Mother might not care for him being so close by. I’ve already invited him to board with us.”
    “We don’t want to upset Talitha. But there are a few things she’s got no say in.”
    “Also, Maddie McLeod is back in New Bern.”
    “Go on. This must be the time for homecomings.”
    Noah threw Harry a questioning look. Harry said he would explain about Maddie later. Natty said, more or less to Noah, “I swan, I don’t know which one I like better, this Harry or that boy who used to court those pretty ladies and set taverns afire.”
    “I saw Maddie yesterday.”
    “I wouldn’t mind laying these old eyes on that one again myself.”
    “You’ll have to hurry. She’s leaving again tomorrow to get married.”
    Natty smacked his hands together. “Glad to hear it. And who might the fortunate bucko be? Anybody I know?”
    “I doubt it. He’s from Virginia. His name is Ayerdale.”
    These words had a surprising effect on Natty. His eyes went large and it looked like he stopped breathing.
    “Do you know him?”
    “I’ve heard the name.” He seemed to recover himself. Got up from his chair and walked over to the hearth. “I reckon we better have some of this mess before it all boils away.”
    “Smells good,” said Noah. “What’s in it?”
    “Pig brains,” said Harry. “Natty’s famous throughout Craven County for his pig-brain stew.”
    “I threw in some tongue and heart and a little liver, just to make it interesting.”
    Before they could put a ladle into it, someone rapped at the door. It was Maddie.
    *
    The fairy princess from the night before was gone. In her place was a woman in men’s riding clothes, hair down and tied back with a ribbon, and a sober eye. She and Harry stood for a long moment, neither speaking, eyes locked.
    Natty called out, “Is that Maddie? Come on in, girl, we was just about to eat.”
    Maddie nodded in his direction and said, “I need to talk to Harry. Maybe another time.”
    In the grayness of an increasingly dank afternoon, Maddie looked older than in the amber light of candles. Tiny lines stretched out from the corners of her eyes and around her mouth.
    “I looked for you at your house, but your wife said you might be over here. Congratulations, Harry. She is beautiful. Very well-spoken for a servant.”
    “I suspect the whole thing was Mother’s idea.”
    He made a quick version of the events, feeling a fresh stab of guilt at the end, realizing how much his tale of unintended romance sounded like an excuse.
    “Well, you could hardly have been expected to remain faithful to me. I was off exploring Europe, having a fine time. And, Harry, I confess I was not always faithful to you.”
    “Ten years is a long spell.”
    They walked as they talked. Maddie speaking evenly,