Read Never a Road Without a Turning for Free Online

worker. That this is the first time anything of the sort of behavior I witnessed in the barn has happened. Is that correct?”
    It wasn’t, but Pip was hardly going to admit it.
    “Yes, sir,” he lied meekly, dropping his gaze to the floor before lifting it cautiously again. He let his eyes go soft and piteous as he had with Mrs. Applethwaite, more out of habit than any expectation the look would gain him anything. But for the briefest of moments, Pip was certain he saw something flash in the major’s eyes. Between one blink and the next, it was gone, not enough time for Pip to put a name to what he saw.
    The major cleared his throat and looked away as he reached for his glass again and downed a large swallow before he spoke. “I’m willing to overlook what happened in the barn but only once. Nothing like that is to ever happen again. Am I understood?”
    “I’m not sacked?” Pip was so surprised he blurted out the first thing that came into his head.
    The major’s lip twitched for a moment, but Pip wasn’t certain whether it was an attempt at a smile or a grimace. “Not this time,” the major replied, the warning implicit in his tone.
    Pip was stunned more than relieved. He didn’t understand why the man would bother keeping him on when surely Mrs. Applethwaite hadn’t come to his defense. But at least he wouldn’t have to go crawling home to Maud just yet. “Thank you, sir.”
    The major grunted and waved his hand in dismissal without looking up from the coals. “Go. See to the rest of your duties. I wish to hear no more complaints about you.”
    “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Pip ducked his head and hurried out of the room before the man could change his mind.
    When Pip returned to the kitchen, the housekeeper was waiting with a pitifully small pile of coins in her hand and an ugly frown on her face.
    “I’m not dismissed, Missus,” Pip said, and his own surprise and confusion were mirrored in the housekeeper’s countenance.
    “Are you certain?” she asked.
    “Aye. ’e said so ’imself,” Pip replied with a shrug.
    She continued to look flustered for a moment before straightening to her full height and sniffing. “If that is what the master wishes, then you may remain. But if I hear even so much as a hint of impropriety about you, that will be the end. Am I understood?”
    “Yes, Missus,” Pip said, giving her his most contrite look.
    “Go. See to your duties. I do not wish to set eyes on you until after tea. I will have plenty of work for you to do when you return.”
    Pip left the kitchen as fast as his feet would carry him. When he’d finished the last of his duties in the yard, he saddled the horse and led it through the gate. He’d received no orders to the contrary, and after the uproar of the morning, Pip needed his escape more than ever.
    He let the horse have its head once he mounted. It galloped down the road and across the fells, following their usual track, seeming as eager as Pip to be free of the yard. But once they stopped and Pip gazed down at the village and the water, he didn’t feel his usual happiness steal over him. He was strangely agitated, and he didn’t know why. True, being caught quite literally with his trousers down wouldn’t have been his first choice of ways to meet his new master. But the major had forgiven him and allowed him to stay. He should have been relieved.
    Pip pursed his lips and thought back on the meeting in the library and on the man himself. The major was nothing like what Pip had expected. He was tall, probably the same height as Pip. He was broad-shouldered though he appeared somewhat lean and frail. For some reason Pip had envisioned a man past the prime of his life, but despite being a bit drawn and pale, the major looked to be in his midthirties at the most. Pip was foolish not to remember a man might have reasons other than old age for retiring his commission. Whatever had caused that limp must have ended the major’s career early,