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All the proceedings were related to Maria in various ways by Miss Netherton, Timothy, and Oswald. Nathaniel, Maria noted, said very little except, "Justice has been done. For once, justice has been done Miss Netherton hadn't come the following morning as promised, to give them her news because her house had been stormed by the blacksmith, his son, and Mr. and Mrs. Carter; also by Willie Melton and his son Dirk and the landlord of The Swan, Reg Morgan, and his wife Lily, for they had all that day been given notice to quit their premises.

"Why," had demanded Reg Morgan and Willie Melton, 'are we being made to suffer for what the Lennons have done, and the Carters an' all? "

This had caused an argument between the two groups outside the house, and when she appeared at her door with Stoddart on one side of her and Peter Tollis on the other. Miss Netherton told the Meltons that they had been included in the evictions on good authority: they had been inciters in what had happened, together with the innkeeper and his wife. And at this Reg Morgan yelled, "You can't put us out. We were engaged by the brewery."

Then let the brewery find you other premises. That inn belongs to me, as do the other houses. If you feel you have been wronged, there is always the law. Go and take it up and see how far you will get. "

When Willie Melton began to plead and say he was sorry that he had opened his mouth, she stared at him, then stepped back and said to Stoddart, "Come in and close the door."

So the village was once more up in arms, at least in part. However, the four families found they were getting little sympathy from the rest of the inhabitants. But this did not stop the blacksmith from going into the inn that night and saying he wasn't going to lie down under this; he would go to a newspaper and get them to print why all this had happened. And why had it happened? Because, as the Parson had said, those two had lived in sin and had bred a family in sin and one of them had followed in the footsteps of her mother, and it was she who had brought tragedy on the village with her antics.

But it was Clan Wallace who stood up to him again and boldly asked who had set fire to the barn all those years ago? Who had crippled the goat? Who had got together a mob to try to scare the wits out of them?

And who had set the man trap As for him going to a newspaper, the newspapers had had a field day about the case already. What had the headlines said?

"Innocent girl near death

through the spite of villagers. The first case ever to have been heard in this part of the country of a female being tarred and feathered. "

And what did they predict? It could be a hanging case if she died.

And it was lucky for him and his son and the other two that she had survived. And to his mind the sentences were light.

When this counter-attack brought no support for the blacksmith he had stormed out of the bar and made for the vicarage. But there his reception was cool, and this enraged the man further. He reminded the Parson that last Sunday he had preached that the sins of the fathers were passed on to the children even to the third and fourth generation It was ten days later when Miss Netherton visited the house in the afternoon. The weather had changed:

there were squally showers and it had turned cold. And when she entered the room where Anna was sitting in the big chair before the blazing fire, her first words were, "Oh, isn't that a welcome sight!

There's a lot to be said for the winter. " Then taking Anna's hand, she said, " How are you feeling, my dear? "

"All right, thank you; much better."

"That's good. That's good." Then turning to where both Nathaniel and Maria were standing, she said, "Sit down. Please sit down and I'll sit here next to Anna and tell you my news. At last, at last, it is settled." And as she took her seat she added, "Well, it was settled some time ago, but I never believe in any business deal until it is in writing, stamped with a red seal or the money is in the bank. And in this case the money is almost in the bank." And at this she opened her beaded bag and took out an envelope from which she withdrew a letter and a cheque, which she passed to Maria, saying, "Read that."

And when Maria had read it, she said, "Oh, my goodness! Oh! Miss Netherton," before passing it to Nathaniel, who gazed at it, then looked at the spruce, neat figure of his benefactress, murmuring in amazement, "I can't believe it." Then bending towards Anna, he said,

"Look at that, my dear." And when Anna read the amount she slowly lifted her eyes and looked at Miss Netherton, and in almost a whisper said, "Seven thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds! Oh, Miss Netherton."

"Well--' Miss Netherton took the cheque from her fingers, put it back into the sheet of writing paper, tapping it as she did so and saying, "

This is the amount after all their bits and pieces have been taken off.

I told you they would all get their cuts. " And again looking at Maria, she said, " The cross was sold to a private dealer in Amsterdam, so I'm told, for ten thousand pounds. You can guess what it's really worth. "

"I can't believe it. I just can't believe it."

"Well, my dear, you can, you can. Now the agreement was we would share this. That means we should have three thousand, six hundred and twenty-five pounds each.

But let me be practical. I have already given you five hundred pounds, and this deducted from your share leaves you with three thousand, one hundred and twenty-five pounds. Isn't that right? Oh, Maria, Maria, don't cry so. This is a happy event. "

"I can't believe it. And ... and you are so good. You really needn't have done anything about it. We needn't have heard another word, yet you go to all this trouble."

"It was no trouble. You have no idea how I've enjoyed myself over this transaction. Why, when I was in Holland I went about and saw and met people I never imagined I would meet up with in my life, and they were all gentlemen. Oh, yes, the Dutch are very courteous and so wonderfully interesting. And they nearly all spoke English, which was just as well. So, I've got a lot to thank you for because I didn't come across that exquisite piece of work, did I? And you, too, Nathaniel, smile please. Come on.

"We've had enough sorrow about lately, let us rejoice in this piece of good fortune. And you know something?" She was now wagging her finger at Maria, who was wiping her face with the hem of her white apron.

"I have never yet come in this house without within five minutes of my arrival being offered a drink of some sort, nearly always a cup of tea.

And here I am bearing gifts' she pulled a face at herself now 'and not a drop am I offered." The last was said in an Irish twang. And when Maria rose hastily to her feet, saying, "Oh, Miss Netherton, Miss Netherton," and then bent quickly towards her and kissed her on the cheek, the older woman kept swallowing for a moment before she said,

"Go on with you!

Go on, I want a strong cup of tea. And Nathaniel, look, it is raining and heavily, so would you mind telling Stoddart to take the contraption into your barn, and then bring him into the kitchen for a drink. Will you? "

When they had the room to themselves, Miss Netherton, now taking hold of Anna's hand, said, "I wish my news could have altered the look in your eyes, my dear. But no money in the world will do that. The only person who can do that is yourself. And now I want you to promise to try and put the past behind you, because never again will you be treated as you have been. I can assure you of that. And then there is your future. We shall have to think about that. Is there anything you want to do?"

Anna shook her head slowly, then said, "I cannot think ahead. I don't seem able to think at all."

"Oh, my dear, that feeling will pass. But we must find something for you to do. Timothy was saying that you might like to go and study in some ladies' college?"

The faintest of smiles came on Anna's face as she said, "He said that?"

"Yes, and much more. Oh, he is indeed worried about you. You are so dear to him. Anna--' She now took hold of Anna's hand and, looking into her face, she said, " Tim is a very special person. Do you know that? Have you yet found that out? "

After a pause Anna said, "Yes. Yes, I have. I've never met anyone as kind as him in my life, except yourself."

The answer seemed to make Miss Netherton impatient for a moment, for she dropped Anna's hands, sat back in her chair and said, "Oh, dear me." And Anna said, "Why do you say, Oh dear me, like that?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter just at the moment. I'll talk about it later when you're feeling stronger. And you know, you're not going to get strong sitting in that chair. I know the weather is inclement but there'll be some nice days ahead and you must get out and walk."

In answer to this Anna said, "I haven't seen Timothy since shortly after I returned home."

"Well, you wouldn't, because he's gone to London."

"London? He didn't say."

"Well, he didn't tell you because you weren't in any fit state to listen to him or to anybody else when you first came home. But you see, his book's been accepted."

"His book?" Anna pulled herself up straighter in the chair.

"I didn't know he had written a book; he said he just scribbled."

"Oh, yes, he always says he just scribbles. But he's written a book on the Renaissance period. He's very interested in that period of history, and it's going to be published."

"Really?" Anna turned her head away now, saying "He's never mentioned it."

"He's a very humble person, is Tim, too humble for his own good ... too thoughtful for his own good. He deprecates himself just because of the one little handicap he's got. And, after all, it is a little handicap.

The unfortunate thing about it is he doesn't know when it's going to hit him. But to my mind, otherwise it is of no great importance. So, my dear, yes, he is going to have a book published. He will likely tell you all about it when he returns. It's been in the publisher's hands for some weeks now and, reading between the lines of what he's saying, they seem to think highly of it. Not that I got much out of him about it."

Half dreamily now, Anna said, "Strange that he never mentioned it to me. We talked such a lot about books and authors and the Renaissance period. He used to speak of Dante, and then of the influence of Machiavelli and of the return to Classical learning.

"Tis strange."

"Ah, here's that cup of tea." Miss Netherton turned towards Maria, who was carrying in a tray holding four cups of tea, and as she put the tray down, she said, "Nathaniel has taken a cup out to Stoddart, Miss Netherton. He said he'd better stay with the horse; it seemed rather uneasy being put in a strange place."

After sipping from the cup. Miss Netherton said, "I've always said, Maria, you make a very good cup of tea." Then she added, "Ah! there you are, Nathaniel," as he entered the room.

"I know what I wanted to say to both of you. It's this: I don't know what you intend to do with the money, but one of the first things I would suggest is you get yourselves a horse and trap now that the fences are down. And by the way, I can tell you that both Raymond Brodrick and his future father-inlaw, Albert Morgansen, have been pulled over the coals for that piece of law-breaking. John Preston got his solicitors to rake from the archives old laws and those two had to pull their horns in when they were confronted with them. There are land-enclosure laws and land-enclosure laws, and those two didn't do their homework. Of course, it

was mostly Praggett's doing, I suppose. Anyway, what about the horse and trap? "

Nathaniel looked at Maria and she at him, and they both smiled and Nathaniel said, "Yes, that is a marvelous suggestion. It will certainly be one of the first things we do."

"And secondly, what about you both taking a holiday, away by yourselves? I can see to this young lady here, and the rest of the family are quite able to see to themselves. Of course, I know you'll have to mull over that one, but think about it. And, of course, what I must ask you is, have you any choice of bank into which you'd like to put your money? If you decide it should go into mine, then I will take you both down and introduce you to the manager. He will then explain where best it would be to invest whatever part of it you would like to earn a little interest. Anyway, that will all be explained to you. So, will tomorrow be convenient for you?"

"Oh, Miss Netherton, any time, any time you care to take us in," said Nathaniel now.

"And I can say this, neither of us will live long enough to thank you for all you have done for us."

Miss Netherton looked to the side now and upwards as she said, "It's odd what money can do. It's odd what locks it can oil, what doors it can open. If only everybody used it for the good. But there, it's not time for preaching and I must away." She rose to her feet; then turning to Anna, she said, "Remember what I told you. Get out in the air as soon as the weather changes, and walk. Walk over to my place every day. Yes, that's a good idea. I'll expect you every day."

"I will. I will in a short while."

Anna didn't get up from her seat but she watched her parents escort her dear friend out of the house. Then, her head dropping back, she closed her eyes as she said to herself, "Get out and walk. Get out and walk."

She didn't care if she never walked again. She just wanted to sit still in this limbo into which she had been thrust. She couldn't see that anything which might happen in the future could arouse her interest ever again. She was dead inside. She had died when that tar brush swept down the front of her body and he had pushed it between her legs.

It had rained for days; then had come a muggy period: there were mists in the morning, with the sun trying to get through a haze, followed by damp, cold nights. Anna could not often take a walk of any length, but she spent quite a bit of her time now in the barn or the tack-room or in the new stable that had been erected to house the nine-year-old horse they had acquired, whose spruce ness had made Neddy look a very poor relation indeed, and whose harness had to be kept burnished. The advantage of doing these chores was that in the main she could be on her own.