But the gamekeepers had all been dismissed and she knew that, if the Earl had engaged new ones, it would have been talked about in the village.
‘Why then,’ she asked herself, ‘should there be men in the woods at this time of night?’
Curious and hidden by the branches of the trees, she moved a little further on.
Peeping through the thick leaves of a rhododendron bush, she saw two men sitting on the ground at the foot of a tall fir tree.
There was a small clearing and the ground was sandy beneath the firs.
Celesta knew that beyond it there was a path that led from there directly to the back of The Priory.
“What’s the time?” one of the men was asking.
Now she could see that they were rough and uncouth men with handkerchiefs round their necks and felt hats pulled low over their eyes.
T
