Free The Secret of Greylands by Annie Haynes Page B

face; it was with difficulty that she got the chain off and the lead fastened to the collar. When that was accomplished she found, too, that it was no easy matter to persuade him to accompany her; with might and main he tugged at the lead, trying to induce her to return to the house, and it was only by putting forth all her strength that she was able to force him in the opposite direction.
    As, almost exhausted, she turned to close the garden-gate she found herself face to face with a stout, hard-featured woman who was looking down on Spot with a bland smile.
    â€œGoing to take the poor creature out for a walk, are you, miss?” she observed. “Well, I am sure it is real charity in a manner of saying, for he must feel very lonely, now my lady is laid up.”
    â€œMy lady!” Cynthia repeated in surprise. “Oh”—with a flash of enlightenment—“you are Mrs Knowles, are you not?”
    â€œYes, miss. I hope the poor lady is better now?”
    â€œI hope so,” Cynthia said doubtfully. “Mr Gillman thinks she is.”
    Mrs Knowles raised her hands.
    â€œPoor thing! I doubt she will never be herself again. Little I thought when I see’d her only last week as ever was walking in these fields with Spot there how soon she was to be took. As the saying is, one is took and the other left. Now, my poor mother ”
    â€œMrs Knowles,” Cynthia interrupted, “you are making a mistake. Lady Hannah was not out last week. She was not well enough.”
    Mrs Knowles drew herself up with dignity.
    â€œWhich, if you know better than me what was on the spot, miss, I have no more to say. Monday in last week, it were. She were in this very meadow, with Spot jumping round her that pleased like; more by token that very day our Janet came back from London, so I couldn’t make no mistake about it. ”
    â€œOh, I thought Mr Gillman told me she had been ill a fortnight, but no doubt I was wrong,” Cynthia said, looking puzzled.
    â€œWhich you were, miss, if you thought that,” Mrs Knowles remarked. “Me, not being a person given to making mistakes, and always having a liking for me lady, and she for me, if I may say it without boasting, I was not likely to be out in my reckoning; but I see Mr Gillman looking out for me, so if you will excuse me, miss, I will wish you a pleasant walk.”
    She bustled through the gate and up the narrow path. Cynthia turned down the meadow, the unwilling Spot still dragging heavily at the lead.
    In vain the girl coaxed and scolded; the dog could not be persuaded to enjoy the walk, and at length, her arms growing tired, she resolved to take him back and make a fresh start alone.
    Now that her steps were turned homeward Spot became quieter, and Cynthia had more time for thought. Mrs Knowles had puzzled her a good deal; she knew that she had made no mistake. Gillman had certainly told her that her cousin’s seizure had occurred a fortnight previously; yet in this case how would it have been possible for her to be walking in these fields only a week ago? There was evidently a discrepancy somewhere, and, notwithstanding the woman’s positive assertion, Cynthia could only suppose that she had made a mistake of a week.
    By and by the girl’s thoughts wandered off to her own affairs; what was Lord Letchingham doing, she wondered, with an irrepressible shudder as she recalled the scene in the train. That he would be searching for her she had little doubt, and though to the best of her belief she had successfully hidden her traces she feared it was impossible that her secret should remain for ever, and then she shrank like a frightened child from the thought of Lord Letchingham’s wrath and its probable consequences.
    As her mind became more wholly absorbed her hold on Spot grew insensibly slacker, and after passing through the gate into the garden, the dog, with one wild jerk, freed himself and started off as fast as his