CHAPTER SIXThe heather was deep and Leona had to struggle through it.
She felt, as she climbed up the hill, that it was trying to prevent her escape, pulling at her, catching at her gown, impeding her progress, so that every moment the panic within her seemed to be rising.
Frequently she looked back over her shoulder and saw by the light of the moon that The Castle looked more grim and frightening than ever.
The darkness of the valley behind it was menacing and every moment she expected to hear shouts and to find that she was being pursued.
A bramble caught her gown and, as she wrenched it away, she heard its thin material tear.
She had been so frantic to escape that she had put on the first gown on which her hand had rested in the wardrobe.
She realised now that it was not one of th
