Read Online The Devil on Horseback by Victoria Holt - Free Book Online

and they had been good friends to us. They had six daughters and they had all been at the school-the two youngest were still there, great strapping girls destined surely to become farmers’ wives. There was a son too Jim, a few years older than I, who was already his father’s right-hand man.
    The Mansers’ farm had always seemed to us a house of plenty. They often sent us joints of lamb and pork and my mother used to say they kept us in milk and butter.
    Mrs. Manser could never be grateful enough for the education her children had received. It would have been quite beyond the family’s means to send the children away to school -and they were not the kind to employ a governess and when my mother had opened the school so close at hand, the Mansers said it was like an answer to their prayers. There were several other families who had felt the same and that was why we had had enough pupils to support the school. :
    I rode to the Mansers’ on Dower and was especially warmly received by all, which was touching. I tried to throw off my grief and be as bright as possible in the circumstances. I could scarcely eat any of the goose which Mrs. Manser had prepared with such loving care, but I did try my best not to cast a gloom over the day. I joined them in the games they played afterwards and Mrs. Manser contrived to partner me with Jim, and I could see how her mind was working. It might have been amusing if I were not in such a sad mood, to see how the people who cared for me were anxious to see me settled.
    I could not believe I should make a good farmer’s wife, but at least Mrs. Manser’s solution might be more possible than the wild dreams in which my mother had indulged.
    Mrs. Manser insisted that I stay the night and spend the next day with them, which I did, feeling grateful not to have to go back to the lonely schoolhouse.
    It was mid-afternoon of the following day when I returned. School would start at the beginning of the next week and I had to prepare the curriculum. I could scarcely bear the silence of the house, the empty chair, the empty rooms. I longed to get right away.
    I had not been in the house an hour when Joel called.
    He took my hands and looked into my face with such compassion that I could scarcely restrain my grief.
    “I don’t know what to say to you, Minella,” he told me.
    I replied: “Please say nothing. That is best. Talk … talk about anything, but not…”
    He nodded, releasing my hands. He told me he had wondered about me during Christmas and had come over on the morning of Christmas Day to find me gone. I explained where I had been and told him of the kindness of the Mansers.
    He took a box from his pocket and said he had a little gift for me. I opened it and there was a brooch lying on black velvet a sapphire surrounded by rose diamonds.
    T was attracted by the sapphire,” he said.
    “I thought it was the colour of your eyes.”
    I was overcome by emotion. Since my mother’s death I had been too easily moved by a show of kindness. It was a beautiful brooch-far more valuable than anything I had ever possessed.
    Tt was good of you to think of me,” I said.
    “I have thought of you a great deal … all the time … since…”
    I nodded and turned away. Then I took out the brooch and he watched me pin it on my dress.
    “Thank you,” I said, “I shall always treasure it.”
    “Minella,” he said, “I want to talk to you.”
    His voice was gentle and a little apprehensive. In my mind’s eye I could see my mother’s smiling eyes, the happy curve of her lips. Could it really be?
    Panic seized me. I wanted time to think . to grow accustomed to my loneliness . my unhappiness.
    “Some time,” I began.
    He said: I will see you tomorrow. Perhaps we will ride together. “
    “Yes,” I replied.
    “Please.”
    He went and I sat for a long time staring ahead of me.
    I was aware of a serenity in the house. It was almost as though my mother was there. I could almost hear the strains of