<strong>Up a Tree &amp; Red-Faced</strong><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll4/ElusiveGypsyRose/1%20-%20Characters/Lady%201.jpg)<div align="center"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;"><strong>Abigail Meghan<br/>O'Hourihane<br/>aka Meg Haney</strong></span></div></div><div class="floatleft">(http://)</div><br/>The movement she had spotted could have been anything, anything at all.  Perhaps it was a servant, hurrying back from meeting up with a sweetheart away from prying and disapproving eyes.  That was something Meg herself could well understand.  Yet that was not the feeling she had as she flattened herself against the trunk of the tree, her heart racing, all pleasant thoughts of illicit affairs of the body and heart dispersing like the mist.<br/><br/>The man moving toward the house, he carried a shadow about him, a shadow that was cold  despite the relative warmth of the evening.  Whoever he was, whatever he was, he was there with no good purpose.<br/><br/>Her mother had had the talent strongly, a feeling about certain people, particularly when they were in a state of emotional upheaval.  It was how she had known when Meg lost a tiny portion of her heart and a great deal of her innocence to a neighbor's traveling cousin.  It was also how she had known that Meg would take no harm from his leaving and emerge from the experience at least somewhat wiser.  Meg's flashes of ... insight ... were rarely all that certain, and only once had she had such a fear-inducing reaction to a stranger, but nonetheless, she went still and quiet as a mouse, all but holding her breath.  Predators could sense fear, and eyes upon them.  That was a lesson from the animal world, from cats to hawks, snakes and other small hunters.  Best of all, noone with ill intent toward her could possibly expect her to be outdoors, and up a tree.<br/><br/>As quiet as the intruder's movements had been, it seemed that she had not been alone in spotting him.  Whether it was happenstance or feeling, the guards were alerted.  It saved Meg the necessity of pondering whether it would be best to yell out and draw attention to her vulnerable position or trust that Lord Ellery's guards would be alert.   As she heard movement, she dared another glance, and saw the shadow melt into hiding ... aware of his discovery.<br/><br/>Meg heaved a sigh of relief, wanting only to slip down and make for the safety of the house once more, but that might well be a distraction.  Sorry repayment indeed, upon top of her inadvertent spying, to bring further danger to the household in a critical moment.  Meg stayed where she was, though she was reassured enough to peer around the branches as Lord Ellery emerged and took charge of the situation.  Captain Asher was out as well, and while Meg could not help a twinge of sympathetic sorrow at having been the cause of the interruption of their ... tete e tete ... she was nonetheless gratified, all the more so as she spied Lord Asher lift his crossbow and take aim.<br/><br/>From her position, and with the thundering of her heart, surely it was only her imagination that she heard the *thun* of the bowstring.  Yet imagination or not, the chill of fear left her almost immediately ... soon replaced by resigned chagrin as her presence was noticed by several of the members of the milling household.<br/><br/>Lord Ellery was first to the tree, though the guard called Roland was not far behind, as Meg began clambering down, a word quite unsuitable escaping her lips as her slipper ... as per its name ... slipped upon the bark and caused her a rather undignified scramble not to end up sprawled upon the moss below, looking up at her again rescuers.<br/><em><br/>"My apologies, Lord Ellery, but I wished a bit of air, and I have always found trees to be the perfect hideaway.  Most people do not look up, you see, and one is both unnoticed and out of the way.</em>"<br/><br/>It did not seem the proper time to discuss such things, though, but Meg could not help herself from looking down full into Lord Ellery's face ... and felt the unmistakable heat of a flush in her face as she remembered what she had seen.  All the same, it did not delay her from speaking, even though she quickly turned her attention back to the tree branches, upon which a bit of dew had settled.<br/><br/><em>"Don't mind me.  I am ... rather practiced ... at the climbing of trees."</em><br/><br/>Hopefully, Lord Ellery would go about seeing to the intruder, and by the time she must face him or Captain Asher again, she would have regained her equilibrium ... and a smidgen of dignity, no matter how precarious.