News Of Mixed Feelings
Willy and Jack rode down the winding track leading to Nelly’s cottage. When they came closer, the smell of smoke and fire drifted toward them. The place had become a smouldering ruin. The walls jutted skyward and the roof had collapsed within those lonely walls, such was the ruin of it. Because of the nature of the woman that dwelt there, it would remain a ruin forever, or so they thought.
The snow was trampled there by ponies and men and near the ruin it was melted to become wet and soggy under foot. On the ground a few feet from the doorway, lay the charred body of Nelly. They both knew it to be her, even though the face stared toward them in twisted agony. They looked about the small enclosure, for what they did not know. The smell of burnt flesh filled their no
