To One In Trust
The next day was Midsummer Day and gossip ran wild throughout the countryside. The evening before, the Royal Mail coach crossing the moor on the piece of road known as the ‘Devil’s Turnpike’, met with a terrible accident. Coachmen and passengers reported that four horsemen, frightening to look upon, attacked the coach and forced it off the road. The coach horses ran in the ditch and onto the moor, terrified. The traces snapped, and the coach overturned, injuring some people. By all accounts, they were still trying to catch the runaway horses. This story remained in circulation for some time.
It was near the end of July, and Julie Slade had become very downcast. She routinely did her daily chores at the Mede, but she behaved in a manner unlike her.
One dark night, Vicar B
