The Lost Son Returns as the Duke novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Martinmas Table
Martinmas morning came up cold and clear, with frost on every roof in Thornwick.
By noon the whole village was on the green.
Hild had dragged out every table in the parish.
She had set them end to end under the oak in a long line.
The kitchen table from the Cobb house stood at the head of it.
Edith sat at that one, in her mended grey dress and a clean cap.
The broad woman from the well had pressed a shawl on her.
The cooper had carried her chair from the house himself.
"This is the day the rent is due," Edith said, looking down the board.
"It was due," I said. "It's paid."
"Who paid it?"
"Osgar Gaunt. The captain took the strongbox to the coroner at dawn. Every penny of the Duke's silver he kept goes back to the forty households, with twenty years of what he took."
A murmur ran along the tables.
The cooper stared into his cup.
"And the Gaunts?"
"The coroner takes Osgar and Ranulf to Tamworth in irons on Thursday. The council will try them."
"Will they hang?"
"The council will decide."
"I'd like to be told what they decide," Edith said, "and I'd like the whole village told."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Lost Son Returns as the Duke are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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