Chapter Six
Duncan stared at the words with a chill in his heart, then finally returned the note to its hiding place, rose, and made his way back to the little church. Mother Brumbach was on her knees, transplanting violets onto the fresh graves as she sang a German hymn in a low, consoling voice. Duncan knelt and helped with the digging.
“That man you chased away today. Had you seen him in Shamokin before?” he asked.
She patted the earth around Rachel’s cross as she considered her answer. “Gentlemen in fine clothes come from Philadelphia most every week. Land company men mostly. Our missionaries from Bethlehem and Nazareth. Government men sometimes. Men recruiting for the southern plantations, though they get few takers here. We used to get few such strangers but now they just come and
