Abbeyford Inheritance by Margaret Dickinson Page B

was surprised to see how much of the building was still standing as she walked into the ruins. Within the outer shell there were numerous other walls, in various stages of collapse. There was a large, oblong-shaped room which had perhaps been the refectory, narrow passages, smaller rooms which might have served as kitchens, then tiny cell-like rooms which must have been the monks’ sleeping cells. One of these – the only one – still had its roof so that, inside the tiny square room, it was almost as it must have been before the abbey had been destroyed. Adelina stepped inside. The stone floor was remarkably clean – almost as if someone had swept it. The tiny slit of a window let in little light so that the cold stone room was dark and dismal and eerie. Adelina shuddered. Fancy spending one’s entire life walled up in a tiny cell like this! She tried to look out of the narrow window, but it was too high.
    â€œMay I help, m’lady?”
    Adelina jumped violently and a small scream escaped her lips as she spun round. She fell back against the wall, her hands spread against the rough stone. The figure of a man blocked the doorway, but she could not see his face clearly, merely his outline. He was only a little taller than she and thickset.
    â€œYou!” she gasped as she recognised Evan Smithson.
    â€œAye, ’tis me,” he answered and moved towards her. “So you’re Royston’s granddaughter, are you? And you’ve wasted no time wi’ me brother, I see. I’ve seen you ridin’ round wi’im.”
    â€œIt’s – it’s not like that …”
    Evan laughed hollowly. “ Expect me to believe that? You’re a sight better lookin’ than Miss Emily, I’ll grant you that.” His eyes roved over her face and body. “Aye, I’ve a fancy for you mesel’ …”
    At that moment there came the sound of footsteps over the loose stones which littered the floor of the ruins. Adelina ducked out of the small room and into the open again. Then a girl’s voice rang eerily through the crumbling walls.
    â€œEvan, Evan! You here, Evan?”
    Adelina glanced back over her shoulder in amusement at the frowning young man. So, she thought, Evan Smithson used the abbey ruins as a trysting-place.
    â€œOver here,” growled Evan, and a young girl appeared round the corner. She stopped uncertainly, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw Adelina. Adelina, too, was somewhat surprised herself, for the girl looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, though she gave every promise of womanhood. Long black hair fell about her shoulders like a cape and her coarse-woven dress was cut low at the neckline. Her face was thin and pinched, but her dark brown eyes flashed a look of jealousy plain for Adelina to witness as they rested upon her, flickered briefly towards Evan, and then returned to Adelina to take in every detail of her appearance. The girl’s hands, dirty and work-worn, plucked nervously at her brown skirt. Jealous she might be, for she had sense enough to recognise a worthy rival in Adelina, the mysterious beauty from a far-off land, of whom the villagers had gossiped never-endingly since the day of her arrival.
    Evan grinned, suddenly, enjoying the spectacle of the two girls eyeing each other. The girl sidled closer to him until she stood beside him. Casually, he put his arm about her waist and drew her to him. The girl looked up at him adoringly, Adelina forgotten now. But Evan’s eyes were still upon Adelina’s face, challengingly.
    Adelina’s mouth curved and she threw back her head and laughed. “I’ll bid you ‘good-day’, Mr Smithson.”
    Lightly, she skipped over the rough ground and out of the ruins. Still laughing, she picked up the skirts of her borrowed riding-habit, mounted Stardust and cantered away.
    Halfway down the hill, she saw Wallis riding Jupiter alongside the stream so she