It was on this very afternoon that Janet first heard that there was trouble and a sound of more trouble at Braelands. Sophy had driven down in her carriage the previous day to see her cousin Isobel Murray, and some old friends who had gone into Isobel’s had found the little Mistress of Braelands weeping bitterly in her cousin’s arms. After this news Janet did not stay long at Maggie Buchans; she carried her patch-work to Isobel Murray’s, and as Isobel did not voluntarily name the subject, Janet boldly introduced it herself.
“I heard tell that Sophy Braelands was here yesterday.”
“Aye, she was.”
“A grand thing for you, Isobel, to have the Braelands’s yellow coach and pair standing before the Murray cottage all of two or three hours.”
“It did not stand before my cottage, Janet. The man went to the public house and gave the horses a drink, and himself one too, or I am much mistaken, for I had to send little Pete Galloway after him.”
“I think Sophy might have called on me.”
“No doubt she would have done so, had she known that Andrew was away, but I never thought to tell her until the last moment.”
“Is she well? I was hearing that she looked but poorly.”
“You were hearing the truth. She looks bad enough.”
“Is she happy, Isobel?”