The Mate He Gave Away novel · Chapter 25 of 40

Chapter 25: Witness

I read it twice.

Then I handed it to Corvin.

He read it once, and his hand closed on it so hard the wax broke into pieces.

"Where is she now?" he said to Davy.

"Running back to her house. She saw me take it."

"Then she'll be on the south road by midnight," Corvin said.

"No, she won't," I said. "Sergeant!"

The sergeant was already at the bottom of the wall stairs. He'd heard Davy shouting.

"The midwife's house," I said. "Third from the bridge. Don't hurt her. Bring her to the hall. And wake everyone."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone who swore in the yard."

It took an hour.

By then the hall was as full as it had been at Solstice.

People wore nightshirts under their coats and carried children asleep on their shoulders.

The great fire had been built back up.

The physician sat by it in his blankets.

Agnes stood at the end of the high table with her arms folded.

She'd been right about something, and she intended to say so later.

The sergeant brought the midwife in through the hall doors.

She had a bundle on her back and snow on her hem.

She'd been halfway out of her house when they found her.

He walked her down the length of the hall, between two hundred faces, and stood her in front of the fire.

Nobody spoke.

I stood up from my bench.

I didn't climb on it. I didn't need to anymore.

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