Chapter Twenty-FiveOne of our neighbours let us hide in a shallow hole beneath her tent until the soldiers had come and gone. She gave us some bread too, and we ate it gratefully. ‘If you don’t have a licence, that pair will come back every day until you pay the fine,’ she warned us.
‘Excellent,’ said Matilda. ‘I hope they wear out their boots.’
‘They’re not stupid,’ said the woman. ‘Sooner or later they’ll find you. I hope they don’t find me hiding you when that day comes.’
We took the hint and went back to our own miniscule piece of land. I tried without success to dissuade Patrick from his duel. A second death was hardly going to make up for the original murder. When I considered the possibility that he might get shot, I wanted to scream at him for being such a moron. I’d grown pecul
