“What on earth could I say to him?” the Vicar had asked when he returned home. “I merely blessed him and I will naturally include him in my prayers.”
Raina had known that her father had longed to give the men some money so that they could stay on, but he had already cut his household expenses to a minimum and there was nothing he could do.
However, she was wondering that if the Earl too was hard-up, as he gave her the impression of being, how would the fields ever be sown or the farms re-stocked.
When she reached the stables, she found that she had not asked in vain.
Sunrise had a side saddle on his back.
“Thank you! Thank you!” she enthused to the Earl.
He smiled as he replied,
“You look more attractive on him than I do. I was thinking that the birds, the rabbits and the flowers sh
