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Hoould it be? she wondered She had wondered the sained different scenes: what she would say, what he would say--would he be glad to see her? She hoped so; and yet he would be a stranger Likely he would bear no reseination With sohaire’s voice: A liar and a cheat…Her ht so

" ‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’ " she murmured to herself She had come into the town of Cross Creek itself; the scattered houses thickened, and the dirt track widened into a cobbled street, lined with shops and larger houses There were people about, but it was the hottest part of the afternoon, when the air lay still and heavy on the town Those who could be, were inside in the shade

The road curved out, following the riverbank A small sawmill stood by itself on a point of land, and near it, a tavern She’d ask there, she decided Hot as it was, she could use so to drink

She patted the pocket of her coat, to be sure she had money She felt instead the prickly outline of a horse chestnut’s hull, and pulled her hand away as though she’d been burned

She felt hollow again, in spite of the food she’d eaten Lips pressed tight together, she tethered the e of the tavern

The room was empty save for the landlord, perched in somnolence on his stool He roused hile of surprise at her appearance, served her beer and gave her courteous directions to the courthouse

"Thank you" She wiped the sweat from her forehead with a coat sleeve--even inside, the heat was stifling

"You’ll have co at her curiously

"Yes--well, not really Whose trial is it?" she asked, belatedly realizing that she had no idea

"Oh, it’ll be Fergus Fraser," thethat naturally everyone kneho Fergus Fraser was "Assault on an officer of the Crown is the charge He’ll be acquitted, though," the landlord went on matter-of-factly "Jamie Fraser’s come down from the mountain for him"

Brianna choked on her beer

"You know Ja at the spilled foam on her sleeve

The landlord’s broent up

"Wait but a moment and you’ll know hi on the nearby table She hadn’t noticed it when she came in "He went out the back, just as you came in He--hey!" He fell back with a cry of surprise as she dropped her own tankard on the floor, and shot out the back door like a bat out of hell

The light outside was dazzling after the taproo at the shafts of sun that stabbed through the shifting greens of a screen ofleaves

He stood in the shade of the maples, half turned away froed, lean and graceful, with his shoulders broad under a white shirt He wore a faded kilt in pale greens and browns, casually rucked up in front as he urinated against a tree

He finished and, letting the kilt fall, turned toward the post house He saw her then, standing there staring at hi Then he saw past her ed at once to surprise as he realized that she was a wolimpse She was at once surprised and not surprised at all; he was not quite what she had iined--he seemed smaller, only , straight nose and stubborn jaw, and the slanted cat-eyes, set in a frame of solid bone

He moved toward her out of the maples’ shadow, and the sun struck his hair with a spray of copper sparks Half consciously she raised a hand and pushed a strand of hair back froleaold

"What d’ye want here, lassie?" he asked Sharp, but not unkind His voice was deeper than she had iht but distinct

"You," she blurted Her heart seeed itself in her throat; she had trouble forcing any words past it

He was close enough that she caught the faint whiff of his sweat and the fresh sht in the rolled sleeves of his linen shirt His eyes narroith a in her costume One reddish eyebrow rose, and he shook his head

"Sorry, lass," he said, with a half-smile "I’m a marrit man"

He made to pass by, and sheout a hand to stop hi to touch his sleeve He stopped and looked at her more closely

"No, I meant it; I’ve a wife at ho to be courteous "But--" He stopped, close enough now to take in the grubbiness of her clothes, the hole in the sleeve of her coat and the tattered ends of her stock

"Och," he said in a different tone, and reached for the small leather purse he wore tied at his waist "Will ye be starved, then, lass? I’ve money, if you must eat"

She could scarcely breathe His eyes were dark blue, soft with kindness Her eyes fixed on the open collar of his shirt, where the curly hairs showed, bleached gold against his sunburnt skin

"Are you--you’re Jalanced sharply at her face

"I am," he said The wariness had returned to his face; his eyes narrowed against the sun He glanced quickly behind hi stirred in the open doorway He took a step closer to her