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silent.
    “Where exactly is your manor, my pet? Do you know its name?”
    “It’s near Pentleby.”
    A long way from here, over beyond Doncaster. Gaunt’s country.
    Hildegard took her by the hand and together they climbed back up the bank. Petronilla, white-faced, was still waiting for them.
    It was late now, the end of what should have been another perfect summer’s day with the sun descending in a ball of flame. It sent fingers of shadow across the meadow into the woods. Under the trees everything was reduced to darkness. An eerie silence pervaded the place now that the sheep had left the upper pasture. The fires had almost burned themselves out and, standing in a mound of ash, only the blackened timbers of the house and barn remained with a faint glow from the dying embers.
    When Hildegard and her two silent charges rejoined the others she told them they would leave as soon as they were ready. First, though, she had something to say.
    The question uppermost in her mind was this: Why would a group of armed men pursue with such venom the daughter of a bonded labourer? It made no sense at all.

 
    Chapter Four
    Night fell. They were ready to leave.
    After a quiet word with Maud, Hildegard briefly told everyone what had befallen her to turn her into a runaway. There was a stunned silence when she finished, then, one by one, the women gave the girl a hug. “Now we know what we’re facing we’ll stand together,” Agnetha said for them all. “They will not get away with it. You’re safe with us.”
    Before they set off Hildegard went back into the herb garden where the lovingly tended cures had been trampled into the dust. Now, in the blue haze of evening, she grubbed among the stems to find some of the leaves she might need. Stowing them safely in her scrip she returned to the others. “Let’s go,” she said.
    So it was, under cover of darkness, the small community made its way along the ridge above the woods and out of the dale by a secret route, leaving the charred desolation of Deepdale behind. The hounds coursed through the trees on both sides as they stepped out. The two girls gripped each other’s hands and all but trampled on Hildegard’s heels in their eagerness not to be left behind, while the two nuns followed, Agnetha staunchly taking up the rear. They walked for some time in a wary silence. A half moon slid little by little across the sky.
    Eventually the rounded hills and sheltering dales of the North Riding lay behind them. Ahead came the flat land, ghostly under the vast sky of Holderness. The summer night had a silver quality. The faces of the women seemed luminous in the strange light. When they came to a fork in the path it was only faintly visible, a deceptive shadow in the undergrowth. One path dwindled in the direction of Swyne. The other disappeared into the west.
    Hildegard prepared herself for what she was about to say. She knew there would be opposition.
    “Let’s stop here a moment.” She glanced round the group as they gathered. Their expressions were faintly visible in the gloaming. “I want you four—Agnetha, Cecilia, Marianne and Petronilla—to go on to Swyne. You must tell the prioress the full story of what’s happened. I’m going to go on to York with Maud and—”
    “No!” To her surprise it was Maud who objected first. “They’ll put me in a prison! I won’t go!” She turned as if to run off but Petronilla caught hold of her by the sleeve.
    “Don’t go running off again. You’ll be putting yourself in danger, you goose. Listen to what Sister Hildegard has to say.” She held on to her and announced, “No wonder she wears her hood up to hide from God. She’s frightened he’ll find her and punish her after what’s happened.” She shook Maud by the arm. “You’ll be safe in York, goosey. And anyway, God isn’t angry with you.”
    “I hope she’s not blaming herself for what those devils did?” said Marianne briskly. She went over and took Maud by the