Chapter 10

Abel came the next day with four men from the home farm, and they worked on the roof in the bitter cold, their breath smoking and their fingers raw, pulling out the cracked bricks and setting new ones in lime mortar that Maud kept warm by the stove so it would not freeze before it set.On Christmas Eve, the fire was lit again, the smoke went up clean, and the Sunday dinners went on as though nothing had happened—except that now they ran on Mr. Tebbutt's credit, and every man who came put down his penny, and very often another one on top of it, and would not take it back.On Twelfth Night, it snowed. It had been snowing since noon: great soft flakes out of a yellow sky. By dark, it lay a foot deep in the lane, and was still falling.At Brexwell, the Duchess was giving her first Twelfth Night ball. There were forty guests coming from all over the county, the great hall was hung with greenery, and the Duchess in white satin stood at the top of the stairs to receive them.Nobody came.The road up to Brexwell went through a deep cutting below the hill, and by seven, the snow had drifted into it higher than a carriage. The first carriages stuck fast, and the ones behind could not turn.And then somebody saw the light.It was Maud's kitchen window, a mile back along the lane—the only lit window in all that white country, because Maud set a candle in it every night for Abel's lads walking home from the home farm. The guests got down—the ladies in thin satin slippers and the gentlemen in evening coats—and began to walk towards it through the snow.Maud saw them from the window: a long, straggling line of lanterns and white faces coming down the lane out of the dark, and she knew at once what had happened. She put her husband's coat on over her apron, took the lantern, and went out.

The Duke Sent Her His 3 Old Aunts for Winter — By Easter His Duchess Begged a Seat at Their Table

A Kind Lady Defended an Elderly Dowager Being Insulted — Never Knowing She Was the Duke's Mother

The Duke Sent Her His 3 Old Aunts for Winter — By Easter His Duchess Begged a Seat at Their Table

"What Are You Going To Do" 5 Bullies Taunted The Single Dad — His Answer Silenced The Entire Park

“Bow Down,” He Ordered — Then the Quiet Single Dad Veteran Made the Black Belt Regret It

The Rich Neighbor’s Black-Belt Son Challenged a Single Dad — Unaware He Was a Navy SEAL

News in the same category

The Duke Sent Her His 3 Old Aunts for Winter — By Easter His Duchess Begged a Seat at Their Table