The funeral procession was a very modest one indeed. Maria Merryweather and miss Heliotrope as the only family of the deceased, and two gravedgiggers. And a priest, of course. That was the wicked end of Mr Merryweather, as even his own brother didn't care to attend the funeral. Gamblers don't have a proper wake.
Maria didn't actually understood well the circumstances she was in. All of it happend so sudden - the death of her usually absent father and information about all his debts and wrongdoings. Not only she was overcome with grief, but also uncartain about her future and broke to the wide. That was a lot for a sixteen years old lass to get through. What would it be, if miss Heliotrope hadn't discovered the family of her father? But it wasn't sure yet if the other Merryweather will welcome them at all.
Miss Heliotrope, walking just behind Maria, wasn't in any better mood. While she loved Maria as her own doughter, she hoped to live in the comfortable London for the rest of her life. Whatever Benjamin Merryweather had to offer will have to be enough for both of them, but the tone of the letter she recieved from him was puzzling and didn't reveal his attitude at all.
The procession had stopped. George Merryweather was to be buried next to his wife, Eliza.
"Lord, we commit the body of your son, colonel George Henry Merryweather, to the ground."
Maria let a single tear out of her eye. Why did it happen?
"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of resurrection into eternal life".
She let one of the roses on the coffin. It fell with an empty thud, with one of the bloody red petals laying next to it. Vanitas vanitatem et omnia vanitas, the flower was dying already.
"What the Lord giveth, he also taketh away."
She put the other bloody rose on her mother's tombstone. Maria looked at miss Heliotropeand they understood each other without words, sharing the grief together. What miss Heliotrope was for Maria, Lady Merryweather was for miss Heliotrope. Suddenly...
Suddenly she felt that she is being watched. She looked around. Twenty feet away, a figure dressed in black and red watched upon her, leaning on a pillar, in, Maria must have admitted, a very casual manner. Another mourner, could it be? Something in the figure struckingly resembled her someone. She was trying to catch a memory from long ago, but the more she tried, the more those memories were fading and she forgot what was she even looking for.
Miss Heliotrope gave her an admonishing glance.
When she looked again in that place, there was just no one staying there. But she was sure it wasn't only her imagination. The blonde hairlocks seemed sow lively, just as... Maria sighed. She pretended to follow the funeral ceremony, but her thoughts were far away. There was something troubling about the figure in black, as a bad omen. Maybe it was just the overall feeling, or something in the appeareance of the stranger? Maybe the bowler hat or those feathers on his neck, the red scarf or just the look of his eyes? Or maybe... the black ribbon on his face, as if he tried to hide at least a part of his face?
Something, for sure, was wrong.
Robin woke up with a feeling of empty head. "Eye, Robin, you awake?", one of his buds loughed. Indeed, it was the middle of the day and the sun was shining brightly. He and his company were ambushing in the tall grass, in the middle of the hunt. Why did he fall asleep?
He faintly rememberd a sad look on a face, a face he should remember... There was something familiar about it, but he wasn't sure at all. He thought about his sister, hidden somewhere in the forest. She could have known something. If only he could have a word with her... But Lovaday was unattainable.
He got to be tough as always, just it.
Suddenly he saw a movement - the animal they were hunting on suddenly showed up. Robin maked a muffled noise and jumped on his feet. But it was too late.
"Be damned with it!" One of the boys shouted.
"Indeed, I have enough of it" yawned Robin. "I'm gonna put up some snares, preferably they won't run away!"