107. Soft, Sweet & Gentle

She thought as the revolver was so light and yet so easy to use that she would certainly take it with her the next time they went on a long journey to the North or even, although her father might disapprove, to London. As she took it out, she realised that it was loaded and there was also a box full of bullets, which she would need if she used it. ‘I am certainly not going to leave this for Alister,’ she said to herself As she picked up the revolver, she was thinking how carefully her father had taught her to handle it. And how pleased she had been when he said – and it was the biggest compliment he could ever pay her – that she shot as well as any man. She felt that her father would be hurt and upset at the idea of her having to leave The Castle, but there was no point in arguing with Alister, who had obviously made up his mind about her. ‘I am just an exile from everything I love,’ she told herself miserably. Then suddenly to her surprise she heard a man’s voice shouting, “What the hell do you think you are doing?”