Black Lion Inn

Seated alongside her father, Earl Edward, in the family Landau, Miranda shivered.

 Slivers of wintry sunlight lit up the eastern sky.

‘Papa,’ Miranda began, ’Is Squire Dayton a handsome fellow?’

Holding   his lorgnette  closer, Earl Edward  stared at his daughter.

‘Preposterous question. He has an annual income of fifty pounds..’

Their Landau stopped outside the ‘Black Lion’ inn.

Papa disembarked.

Miranda waited for stable boy Winston’s secret signal.

Miranda’s ghost, folklore says, still  walks by the inn on wintry nights.