Whilst she was there with them, she had always felt that they were looking after her as they had when she was a child.
Now she was grown up, on her own and facing a strange and frightening world all by herself.
She rode Westwards, knowing well in that direction there was pretty undulating country in which there were few houses and no one to notice her.
She had a distinct feeling, although she might be wrong, that her uncle, once he realised that she had run away, would think that she had gone Southwards.
Since London lay to the North, he would then assume that she would avoid the City at all costs.
She rode until the sun came out and, as it grew warmer, she tried to keep in the shade of trees and there were plentiful trees along her chosen route.
After about three hours it was becomi
