He looked at Edith and realised that she understood the implication of what Lena was saying. Of course she did. Lena would have told her.

Lena moved away from Misha as they heard the sound of the gate. They waited, hardly daring to breathe, as if just by being seen together, it would be enough for their secret to be known.

The snow muffled the cabinet maker’s footsteps. They heard him cursing and then silence. Edith opened the door and saw her father flat on his back in the snow. Misha helped Edith get him to his feet.

‘Have you got the fish?’ asked the cabinet maker. Misha gestured at the cloth parcel on the table. ‘He’s got the fish, bring the man a drink! I tell you, Misha, the sooner this bitch is off my hands, the better.’ He went to the cupboard.

‘Look at me, Edith. I’m taking another bottle of wine. Because it doesn’t matter. The more I drink, the more your bridegroom brings me. You and your silence can go to hell.’ He wheeled round the room. ‘Oh, here’s little Lena,’ he said as she moved out of his way. ‘Now, she’s a sensible girl, she got married.’

Misha said, ‘That’s as good as saying the vixen was sensible to be caught in a trap.’

‘Is that a joke?’

‘No,’ said Misha.

The cabinet maker sat down at the table. ‘Sit, young man, sit and have a drink with me.’ He poured the wine into an invisible glass. It ran onto the table and through the cracks. Edith mopped it up.

‘I think I’ve pissed myself,’ her father said, laughing. He stood, his trousers wet, and an acrid smell of wine and urine filled the room.

Misha helped him to bed.

‘I have to go,’ said Lena when Misha returned.

Edith watched him walk Lena to the gate.

‘Thank you for your silence,’ he said as he came back into the kitchen. ‘You heard what I thought would never find a voice. One day, Edith, things will be better.’

She put her head to one side and with her arm played an imaginary violin.

‘I will find him,’ Misha said. ‘I made a silent promise to you that I would. Did you hear it?’

Edith nodded. And realised she couldn’t leave the village until she knew what had happened to Demetrius.

Chapter Fifteen

Between Her Words

Good as their word, Vanda and Una arrived early to help prepare for the betrothal supper. Edith heard them in the yard arguing about Una’s daughter, Sorina.

‘You made her go there on her own to clean our father’s house?’ said Vanda.

‘Sister, I’m too busy to do it,’ said Una. ‘And it will teach her not to go talking rubbish.’

‘She came to me, no one else, me, and told me what happened at the inn. You should take better care of your daughter.’