A Midsummer's Day Read Online Free Page A

Grotto and the lawless Gypsy Way within.  It was a place of sin and vice, and it was painful to have his Anne sing on even the edge of such a place.
    But there was no other place to put her.
    The stage was deserted.  Surely her show must have only just ended.  She couldn’t be very far away.  In this heat, away from the pond’s cooling breezes, a walk of any distance would have the vapours upon the poor, delicate thing.
    Jameson walked down the Lover’s Bridge.  Not even Anne would ever dream of venturing into the Grotto.
    “Good morrow, my Lord High Sheriff.”  A ragged beggar, covered in mud, met Jameson on the other side of the bridge.  Kaiser, as the man was called, gave a shaky, awkward bow.
    “Fair thee well, Good-my-man Kaiser?”  Jameson was not unfond of the mud beggars.  He gave them their place in the festival, and he tolerated the three so long as they caused no trouble.  And they were well behaved.  For the most part.  “I hope to hear me no talk of thee and thy brethren seeking to sully the virtues of pure young lasses passing through yon Hill Street.”
    The beggar’s brown face shone red.  “If any such rumors do fill your ears, my Lord High Sheriff, knowest you it be my cousin Puck that stealest the most kisses.”
    “I most kindly thank thee for thy notice, Goodman Kaiser.”  Puck had proven more than problematic over the years.  A day did not go by during festival where words did not reach Jameson’s ear of Puck’s exploits.
    “So by what great honor bringest the most noble Lord High Sheriff Kent to my most humble Dregs?” Kaiser asked.
    “I did come to seek me the Lady Halloway, but it doth seem her performance hath ended ‘ere I did arrive.  Dost thou know thee in what direction the Lady hath travelled?” Jameson asked.  Kaiser’s eyes were better than his own constables’ sometimes.
    “Aye, my Lord High Sheriff.  Cousin Puck did fetch the Lady and the two did go strolling together.  They did depart from yon Gypsy Way not ten minutes past.”
    Red flooded Jameson’s vision.  His fingernails threatened to carve deep grooves into his skin.  Ever did the blasted Puck seek to corrupt Anne’s gentle mind against common sense.  “I do thank thee once again, Good-my-man Kaiser.”  He stalked away from the Dregs and up the Hill Street.
    He knew where Puck led Anne.  He had to reach his betrothed before the bastard stole her virtue.  Or before he did something worse.
    Beyond Hill Street, beyond the Village Green, was a building little used by those at festival.  Anne leaned against the hidden door, looking radiant today in a rich plum kirtle and crème overdress.
    A breath’s width away from her face stood that dirty beggar Puck.
     
     

 
    Chapter 4
     
     
    “I have heard me a rumor that her Majesty Queen Elizabeth hath broken from tending to the timely matters of the realm and dost attend the festival.  Be there any truth to these most surprising words, my Lady Halloway?”
    Puck had said very little since they left Gypsy Way.  Anne realized why.  The number of peasants had dwindled down to almost none.  The space between the stone paths was the land of the nobility.  There were few, if any, people here who looked upon the likes of Puck with any amount of kindness.
    “Thou hath heard thee true, Master Puck,” Anne said with cheer.  She would not see anyone, leas t of all her friend, so painfully uncomfortable.  “Already her Grace the Queen hath commanded me to attend her at the joust anon.”
    A child near Anne heard her.  She tugged on her mother’s sleeve.  “Did you hear, Mommy?  The pretty lady says there’s a queen here!”
    “I heard, Kendi.”  The mother unfolded a well-used piece of parchment.  “The schedule says there’s a human chess match.  I bet the Queen’s there.  Let’s text daddy and have him and Kale meet us at the chessboard.”
    The mother took the daughter’s hand, and they walked down a path as the mother