Read Online Langdown Manor by Sue Reid - Free Book Online Page B

‘You can’t get up on your own. You know you can’t. Let me.’ He bent down to help me and I settled myself back in the saddle. Starshine was still contentedly munching the grass. She didn’t seem to mind me on her back. I leaned forward to try and untie the reins that tethered our horses together. Fred saw and shook his head. ‘I should take you home,’ he said.
    Home, I thought. I looked back at the house. I had no wish to return to Langdown. Here I felt at home. There, I did not.
    â€˜No,’ he said again. But I sensed that his resolve was weakening.
    â€˜Let’s ride,’ I said, looking down at him. ‘Please!’
    â€˜Yes, let’s,’ he said, looking back up at me.
    He untied the reins that still tied Starshine to Nimbus. ‘Keep close beside me,’ he said, swinging himself up into the saddle. ‘Then if Starshine bolts again…’
    â€˜She won’t,’ I said.
    He grinned. ‘Are you always so sure?’
    â€˜Always,’ I said.
    I felt so peaceful, riding by his side. We rode across fields that I hadn’t even known belonged to the estate.
    â€˜I hadn’t realized it was so large,’ I said.
    He shrugged. ‘It’s not that big. Only a few hundred acres.’
    I was used to a much bigger country, but it sounded a lot for one man to own. We passed near a farmhouse. It looked snug and cosy.
    â€˜It looks nice,’ I said. ‘I’d far rather live there than at the manor.’
    â€˜That’s the estate’s dairy farm,’ Fred said. ‘I grew up on a farm like that.’ I couldn’t have hidden my surprise very well for he grinned and said, ‘Didn’t think I was a farmer’s son, did you?’
    â€˜I hadn’t thought about it,’ I said. I wondered what had made him leave a farm to go into service.
    â€˜I didn’t want to go into service,’ he said, as if he’d guessed what I was thinking. ‘But Father died and Mam couldn’t afford to keep the farm on. I was lucky I knew enough about horses to get the job here.’
    â€˜You won’t always be in service then?’
    Fred shrugged. ‘Mam needs what money I can send her. And here I’m one less mouth for her to feed.’ His eyes strayed over the countryside.
    So, I thought, you’re a captive here like me. It made me feel as if there was a bond between us. Neither of us wanted to be at Langdown. I was pleased that he’d confided in me. I felt as though we had stepped over the invisible barrier that had separated us. We rode in silence while I thought what to say.
    â€˜But you love horses, don’t you?’
    â€˜Horses, yes, all animals. But I’d like to have my own little patch of land, grow things…’ He swung round in the saddle: ‘Tell me about India.’
    â€˜Well, it’s hot,’ I said, ‘and it smells.’ We both burst out laughing.
    â€˜You love it though, don’t you. I can tell,’ he said. ‘Will you go back there one day?’
    â€˜I hope so – one day. But I don’t know when that will be.’ When I’ve learned to be a young lady, I thought to myself. And I didn’t want to be a young lady. There had to be more to life than that.
    I looked around me, at the fields that stretched for mile after mile. In spring the trees would be in leaf, and birds would build nests in the hedgerows. I would ride every day over these fields. It wasn’t enough.
    I was sorry when the house came into view. We were trotting, but as we got nearer Fred slowed us to a walk. I was glad. I didn’t want the ride to end, ever.
    â€˜Tomorrow?’ I said as we clattered into the yard.
    â€˜Tomorrow,’ he said, as he helped me down. I lingered as he led Starshine into her stall. I leaned against the wall and watched as he began to rub her down. I’d liked to have stayed there in the stall, breathing in the