CHAPTER TWOLouisa awoke with a start. It was dark and quiet. Arabelle lay sleeping quietly beside her, and beyond their room she guessed that the whole house was asleep.
Slipping out of bed she tiptoed to the window and drew back the curtain a little, revealing a countryside bathed in silver. High above the moon hung in the sky, silent, mysterious. By its light she could make out the stable block.
Suddenly a faint whinny rose into the darkness.
It was Firefly, she thought. She knew the sound the mare made and she was reproaching her mistress for not coming to see her.
‘How could I neglect you?’ she whispered. ‘I am coming, my darling.’
She threw on a cloak over her nightdress, slipped out of the bedroom and down the backstairs to the kitchen. There she found a lantern and lit it. Its
