Faith - By Deneane Clark Page 0,2

with malice. “Milton’s spider, hmm? Well, then. I suggest you continue to do just that—wait. And if you ever tell anyone what you saw here, I’ll make sure Milton’s spider eats both you and your sister. Understand?”

Wordless, her gray eyes huge, Faith nodded, then turned and ran back to the center of the maze. She stopped and watched to see if Duncan would follow, but he did not. She blinked and waited and tried her best to forget what she had seen.

After an hour, Faith began to suspect her sister was not coming back. Still she did nothing, didn’t even call for help; she didn’t want to make a noise. She simply placed her back securely against a hedge and sat down to wait, her fertile imagination taking over: Grace and Milton hadn’t come back because the monstrous spider had eaten them. Worse, if the spider found out she was here, he would eat her, too. So Faith sat as still as she could, watching all four paths that exited the center of the maze for the terrifying creature to appear, silent tears of terror slipping down her dirty cheeks.

The shadows lengthened and still she sat, her heart jumping in renewed fear every time a squirrel rustled through the hedges or a bird fluttered near, but she did not make a sound, and she did not move. By now, Duncan and the spider had merged in her fertile little mind into a single entity. After all, she had seen him actually beginning to eat the chambermaid, hadn’t she?

It was only as full darkness neared that she again heard voices—those of her father and her mother and her older sister Patience—calling her name from outside the maze. But Faith didn’t answer, because she was still in the spider’s lair and knew that if he heard her, he would be able to get to her long before her mama or papa. Just as he’d gotten Grace.

The voices continued to move, surrounding her now as her family worked their way through the maze. Faith squeezed her eyes closed and prayed that the spider wouldn’t eat them, too. And then she heard Grace.

“She was in the middle, Mama,” sobbed her sister. “I wanted to go back and get her, but Duncan came out of the maze and chased Milton away. Then, when I asked Duncan if he’d seen Faith, he got a mean look on his face and told me he saw the spider chasing her! So I came to get you and Papa.” Grace hiccuped. “I’m sorry, Mama. The spider must have eaten her by now.”

Faith opened her eyes. The spider hadn’t gotten Grace? She rose slowly to her feet. “Grace!” she screeched. Starting to run, Faith hurled herself through the nearest exit and around corners, crying as she went and calling her sister’s name. She rounded one last corner and saw her father and Patience, but Grace wasn’t with them, so she barreled past, still looking for her sister, still calling her name.

And then there she was, holding Mama’s hand, crying as they walked along the overgrown path. And then she and Faith were in each other’s arms, laughing and crying and safe once again from their mean cousins and the horrible spider.

It was dark when they finally left the garden, Faith holding tightly to her sister’s hand as they followed their parents. But she looked back once at the shadowy entrance to the maze and shuddered at what might have happened. Her mind returned to those moments with Duncan and the chambermaid who had run off in shame. She thought about what she’d seen, and remembered how Duncan had ordered her never to discuss it. Which meant, of course, that what he was doing to that poor servant when she came upon them could only have been bad and wrong.

With firm resolve, Faith decided she would never end up in the same shameful situation as that servant girl. But just to be on the safe side, she did not merely comply with Duncan’s order…she put the incident completely out of her mind.

Of course, some things never really go away.

One

Summer, 1813

It was rather disconcerting, and not in the least fashionable, thought Faith, for a couple, however newly wed, to behave in such a manner.

She was watching her sister Grace play impish children’s games with her new husband, Trevor Caldwell, the Earl of Huntwick. This was definitely not the manner in which a countess should comport herself. But then, Grace had never been