The military had requisitioned all of the buildings on the edge of their base and were beginning to block the roads

This said they took little or no notice of me as I cycled back and forth along the rural lanes

I was told that there had been some resistance but this had soon been crushed and that they were in full control of the area

It was all to do with a coup d’etat or so my parents had said to me and that the soldiers had been sent in to bring order back to the country

Even at my tender age this made me angry as there were no problems in my village or others nearby

The problems such as they were had been caused by outsiders who tried to attack the military base on the edge of our village

We had lived with these men peacefully for decades and they were an accepted part of the community

But now they were our masters

On Easter Monday my mum had asked me to pop down to village shop not far from the crossroads to buy a newspaper and a loaf of bread

She had been assured that it was still trading even though the owner’s son was being held for subversive activities

My father said it was because he had gone to university and had ideas above his station

As I cycled past Wrights Cottage I noticed that there were a number of cardboard boxes outside

It appeared that the old couple had been evacuated and that their belongings were following them

I stopped and got off my bike and began to rummage through the boxes expecting at any minute to be shouted at by a soldier

But nobody was near and I was left alone

Most of the boxes contained boring household goods and family photographs but in a smaller box I found a number of antiquarian books

It was the largest of these books that drew my attention as it appeared to be a record of a school in Uxbridge Middlesex

Its entries dated back over one hundred and seventy years to 1849

It was then that I made the acquaintance of Madeline Usher

I tried to hide the book under my jacket but it was too large and my possession would draw suspicion or so I felt so I cycled back to Pink’s Barn and hid the book in the roof unseen

After running my errand I returned to the barn but could not find the book

It was after jumping down that I suddenly became aware that I was not alone

I supposed that soldiers had followed me and were about to arrest me for my theft but all I saw was a girl some years older than me standing in the shadows of the barn

The first thing I noticed was how pale she was and the frailness of her hands

It was almost as if she was a consumptive but that condition had been stamped out many years ago

I was about to speak to her when a tank turned the corner in the lane

My attention was diverted for a moment and when it returned the frail girl had vanished from sight

Although confused I thought that she had been alarmed by the presence of the tank and had run away

But deep down I knew that I had met Madeline Usher

To be continued