[Mithalwen]

On the Downs

Jessamy had shouldered her knapsack and taken the proffered lamp, Lantern holding was something she could do. In fact it was almost an area of expertise. So often if there was a minor emergency on the farm - a difficult lambing or a injured beast, she had been told "If you want to make yourself useful you can hold the lantern". In the byre or barn the lamp would create a comforting pool of light but here its glimmer seemed merely to show how vast and gloomy the Downs were. Even Duke seemed to have lost his exuberance and stayed close by; Jessamy found his presence as comforting as the light.

She really wanted to believe Karl but it was hard. She was accustomed to seeing death - you couldn't be raised a farmer's child and not be - but this was different. She had known old folk who had died at the fullness of their years and of babes that had been born to soon and failed to thrive. However usually the Breelanders were a healthy enough lot and if you survived your first year or two you were considered good for sixty or seventy more, barring accident. She had never known a young person sicken and die and she didn't want to. Edwin's stillness unnerved her and she could not believe all would be well. Nor did she believe that they would be met by a search party on the road. Not for her anyway. Noone knew she was here but there was no point in telling Karl that. He probably hoped that there would be someone to help him with his burden. But she had lied and her family thought her safe at the Boffins' . So it would be a long and dismal walk home and at journeys end what then. Even if by some lucky chance Edwin revived that wouldn't be the end of her troubles. Would her parents be furious or perhaps worse saddened by her deceit? She scarce had the energy to wonder anymore. At least it was easier to match Karl's pace now he was carrying Edwin but she had to concentrate to keep her cold, weary feet from stumbling.