As
soon as his horse's hooves could no longer be heard, she went to the
trap.
Despite all Michael's objections, when she learned the chance existed
to free him from the pursuit and persecution of the English, Mary too
insisted that it must be taken, the plan tried. And his mother told
him plainly:
"You are unwell, and a wanted man. If nothing else, this buys you time
to recover from the harrows of your affliction. You are the one among
us most in danger, and most in need. We are going
to do this for you; there is no time for pride and fear!"
He would never have consented, no matter how great the pressure, if he
knew that Stephen Purceville himself had assaulted Mary, and that his
father had violated the grave of James Talbert, to obtain for him this
`chance'. But he did not know. And it soon became clear that the only
way to stop the two from going---Anne Scott accompanying her as a
guardian---would be to try to restrain them physically, to the
possible undoing of them all. For at irregular intervals they heard
the hoofbeats of Stephen's horse, now nearer, now farther away.
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