Page 235 (1/2)

"Co a curl behind my ear

"Ye ken what I said at Alamance? Well, it’s no today, either, Sassenach We’ll both be back"

MRS CRAWFORD’S ASSEMBLY, held the next evening, boasted the sa’s, but had one novelty; it was there that I smelled myrtle candles for the first time

"What is that lovely scent?" I asked Mrs Crawford during the interval, sniffing at the candelabra that decorated her harpsichord The candles were beeswax, but the scent was sohter

"Wax-ratified "I don’t use theh one can--but it does take such a treet only a pound of the wax, iht h as would make a dozen candles So I rendered the wax, but then I ular beeshen I dipped the candles, and I will say I aive such a pleasant aro her voice to a confidential whisper

"Soht as though the cook had scorched the potatoes at supper!"

And so, on the third day, faced with the alternatives of a day spent cooped up with three ss, or a repeat visit to the much-diminished remains of the dead whale, I borrowed several buckets from our landlady, Mrs Burns, commissioned a picnic basket, andexpedition

Brianna and Marsali consented to the notion with alacrity, if not enthusias," Brianna said "Anything!"

"Aye, and anything is better than the stink of filthy clouts and sour milk, too," Marsali added She fanned herself with a book, looking pale "I could do wi’ a bit of air"

I worried a little about Marsali’s ability to walk so far, given her expanding girth--she was in her seventh month--but she insisted that the exercise would benefit her, and Brianna and I could help to carry Joanie

As is usual in cases of travel with sed Joanie spit up own, Jemmy committed a sanitary indiscretion ofthe confusion occasioned by these mishaps He was discovered, at the conclusion of a half-hour search involving everyone in the street, behind the public livery stable, happily engaged in throwing horse dung at passing carriages and wagons

Everyone forcibly cleaned, redressed, and--in Germain’s case--threatened with death and disain, to find that the landlord, Mr Burns, had helpfully dug out an old goat-cart, hich he kindly presented us The goat, however, was earden, and declined to be caught After a quarter of an hour’s heated pursuit, Brianna declared that she would prefer to pull the cart herself, rather than spend any longer playing ring-around-the-rosy with a goat

"Mrs Fraser, Mrs Fraser!" We were halfway down the street, the children, buckets, and picnic basket in the goat-cart, when Mrs Burns ca of small beer in one hand, and an ancient flintlock pistol in the other

"Snakes," she explained, handing me the latter "My Annie says she saw at least a dozen adders, last ti the object and its attendant paraphernalia with reluctance "Quite"

Given that "adder" could rass snake, and also given that Annie Burns had a marked talent forthe gun into the picnic basket, but a glance at Germain and Jemmy, pictures of cherubic innocence, decidedeven an unloaded firearm anywhere near them I dropped the pistol into my berry-bucket, instead, and put it over ht breeze off the ocean The air was da, but for the moment, it was very pleasant out, with the sandy earth packed down sufficiently fro Mrs Crawford’s directions, we made our way a e of a thick growth of coastal forest, where scanty-needled pines roves and palle, twined with vines I closedmixture of scents: mudflats and wet sand, pine resins and sea air, the last faint whiffs of dead whale, and what I had been looking for--the fresh, tangy scent of wax-etation The going was too heavy for the cart now, so we left it, allowing the little boys to run wild, chasing tiny crabs and bright birds, as we made our way slowly into the scrubby forest Marsali carried Joan, who curled up like a dormouse in her mother’s arms and went to sleep, lulled by the sound of ocean and wind

In spite of the heavy growth, the walking was more pleasant here than on the open beach; the wind-stunted trees were tall enough to give a pleasing sense of secrecy and refuge, and the footing was better, with a thin layer of decaying leaves and needles underfoot

Je both ar a berry-bucket fro him up, with a crackle and pop of vertebrae; he was a very solid little boy He twined his sandy feet comfortably round h of relief

"All very well for you," I said, gently patting his back "Who’s going to give Grannie a ride, hey?"

"Grand-da," he said, and giggled He lifted his head, looking round "W’ere Grand-da?"

"Grand-da’s busy," I told hiht and cheerful "We’ll see Grand-da and Daddy soon"