Page 141 of Feathers in the Wind
He fixed her with an uncompromising glance and saw her swallow.
Without taking her eyes off him, she addressed her sister, “Pen? What is he talking about?”
Penitence gasped and releasing Jack's hands she sat back, her hands grasping the arms of her chair. “You don't think that I...? No! I'm not a traitor.” She turned to her lover. “Jack, tell them.”
Jack looked up. “I just had to see her, that's all. It was a tryst, nothing more. She's not a traitor to this castle.”
Luke brought his hand down on the table with a thump that made them all jump.
“This is not the time for lover's trysts, Farrington. I don't care if you had met to play backgammon. She,” he pointed to Penitence, “is a member of this garrison. You,” he pointed to Jack, “are the enemy. That immediately makes her suspect. As you well have cause to know, someone in this castle is in contact with your brother and right now it looks to me as if that person is Mistress Felton.”
“No, this is wrong,” Deliverance touched his arm. “Penitence would never betray us.”
He rounded on her. “We are at war, Deliverance. This man,” he pointed at Jack again, “has four hundred armed troops out there with no other intention but our annihilation.”
Deliverance stared back at him, her eyes wide and fearful. He saw her glance at her sister. Penitence looked away.
Luke turned to Penitence. “How many times have you met?”
Her lower lip began to quiver, and Jack answered for her. “This is the third time.”
“And how do you arrange these assignations?”
Penitence swallowed. “I light a lantern and shine it from the window of the Jewel Tower. Three times and Jack knows it is safe.”
“Safe? Is it only safe when the man, Truscott, is sentinel on the sally port?”
Penitence nodded. “He has known me all my life... I only asked him not to tell anyone...”
“Truscott is a Felton man,” Deliverance said. “He is utterly honest and reliable.”
“He has deliberately turned a blind eye to no less than three meetings between these two.” Luke looked back at Deliverance. “This cannot go unpunished, Mistress Felton. He is as complicit in this as your sister and an example must be set.” He straightened and turned to Sergeant Hale. “Tomorrow at midday, I want Truscott hanged from the Hawk Tower.”
Penitence screamed.
Deliverance's hand went to her mouth. “Luke, no.”
He ignored her. “Hale, take Captain Farrington to a room in the Lower Tower and provide him with a bed, water and a bucket. I would offer you food, Farrington, but alas we are a little short.”
Hale hauled Jack up by the arm and hauled him out of the room. Penitence, ashen faced, looked up at Luke. He met her eyes without blinking.
“Mistress Felton.” Luke glanced at Deliverance. “Take your sister to a bedchamber upstairs and lock her in. Bring me the key.”
Deliverance went to her sister's side and put her hand on her shoulder. Penitence placed her own hand over Deliverance's.
A united front.
“Luke, she doesn't deserve this,” Deliverance said.
Luke shook his head, unmoved, although the white-hot anger he had experienced on first catching the lovers together had begun to fade.
“What you fail to understand is that she has been caught consorting with the enemy. I cannot let her go unpunished. Rightly she should hang with Truscott on the morrow. It is only because I am merciful that she will stay incarcerated until this siege is ended, and then I will leave her to your father to deal with as he thinks fit.”
Penitence gave a strangled cry and began to sob again.
Luke’s anger began to ebb from him in the face of the girl’s distress. In a softer tone, he said, “I'm sorry, but you must see you brought this on yourself. How did you contrive the arrangement with Farrington?”
“He...he...” she sniffed, “slipped me a note that first day.”
