Read Replenish the Earth for Free Online

uninhabitable.
    ‘It could be beautiful,’ Mr Pursley allowed, ‘If someone cared enough to look after it.’ Then he shook his head and the frown returned, not aimed at her, but as if it was his habitual expression. 
    They moved slowly forward towards the curving driveway and as she began to see more details, Sarah’s heart sank. The windows were dull, one or two broken and gaping open to the weather. Grass was growing in the gutters, and there were dead branches and other debris scattered over what had once been a gravelled forecourt, but which now sprouted patches of dead weeds from the previous summer.
    This couldn’t all have happened in the year since her grandfather’s death. He must have allowed the place to degenerate while he was still alive. How could he have done that? She would have boarded up the windows herself rather than leave them open to the weather’s assault. There were broken roof tiles lying here and there on the ground, recent falls, by the looks of them. There must have been bad winter storms to do this. How much did it cost to get in a tiler? And a glazier? How bad were things inside the house?
    Too bad for her to live there? Oh, please, no!
    She stopped and pressed a hand to the hip that was aching furiously now. When she saw that Mr Pursely had noticed, she snatched her hand away, but the damage was done.
    ‘How did the house get like this?’ she wondered aloud to distract his attention from herself.
    He ignored her question. ‘Never mind the house, you need to rest that hip, Mistress Bedham.’
    She nodded and let out a shaky breath. Useless to deny it. The house still lay some two or three hundred yards away. She might get there, but would find it difficult to return to the village on foot afterwards. ‘I think perhaps I’d better return to the inn. I need not trouble you further. I can manage on my own, now that I know the way.’ And would be able to go slowly, with rests to ease the hip.
    ‘Nonsense! You aren’t fit to walk far, so if you’ll sit here in this arbour, I’ll go and fetch my trap.’ He brushed the dead leaves off a rotting wooden bench and guided her to it, making sure she had sat down before he stepped back. ‘’Tis only a short walk to the home farm through the woods.’
    She could only nod and admit, ‘I’d be grateful for your help, sir.’
    * * * *
    She looked so white, Will ran all the way home, wondering how to warn her about Sewell and how best to help her settle in. For upon this woman depended his own future, his only hope of staying in the district. And he was determined to stay there, just as he was determined one day to make Sewell pay for what he had done.
    ‘She looks like she needs cosseting,’ he told the horse as he harnessed it. ‘But she’s a Bedham all right. She’s not only got their height and colouring, but that stubborn chin, just like the old Squire’s.’
    As the horse clopped along the track to the big house, he could see her sitting in the old arbour, heedless of the dirt and spiders, her head leaning back and weariness in every line of her body. Something tugged at his heart, as it had when she’d leaned against him, fighting to hide the pain. It was strange, this urge he had to protect a stranger, a woman he had only just met.
    He jumped down and helped her up into the trap, driving it gently back to the village via the farm lane, which was the longer way round, but in much better condition than the one she had arrived by.
    At The Golden Fleece, he helped her down and wasn’t surprised when she clung to his arm again to cross the muddy ground to the door, limping badly now.
    Prue Poulter met them at the door, her face anxious. ‘What’s happened?’
    Will answered. ‘Mistress Bedham has had a fall and needs to rest.’
    Sarah tried to pull herself together. She didn’t need anyone to speak for her, even though he meant it kindly. ‘I shall be all right now. I must thank you again for your help, Mr Pursley. I