At the Highwayman's Pleasure by Sarah Mallory

Author:Sarah Mallory
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarlequinUKLtd
Published: 2013-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Charity stared. ‘You think she stole the money?’

‘I don’t think, I know.’

‘But surely—did no one question this at the time?’

‘Why should they? No one knew of the prize money, save Hannah and my mother. When Hannah married Weston she told everyone she had come into an inheritance.’ He pushed himself out of the chair and began to pace up and down the little room, the candles flickering as he passed them. ‘The money I sent went into the family account in York. Enquiries showed that Hannah had made regular withdrawals from the account, but I swear none of it went into this house or the land. Instead everything of worth was sold, tenants’ rents were raised until they could not afford to live in the farms any longer and servants turned off. Only Jed refused to leave. He was devoted to my mother and stayed on to do what he could.

‘I went to see Dr Jarvis—he had been the family doctor since I was a boy—and he did not mince his words. Told me I was a damned scoundrel for going off and leaving my mother at Wheelston without the money to run the place. It is clear from what you say that that is pretty much what everyone in Allingford believes.’

‘But surely you told him the truth?’

‘I tried, but he thought I was merely making excuses. My mother had not told anyone of my efforts to repair the damage caused by my father’s ill-judged investments. And there was no formal engagement between myself and Hannah. God knows I wanted to make it official, I suggested we should marry before I returned to sea, but Hannah would not. At the time she said she wanted to wait until my mother’s health had improved, but looking back I think she was already weaving her plans. After all, why tie herself to me when I had already given her access to all the money I possessed?’

‘So what did you do? Did you go to Sir Mark Beverley?’

‘What was the point? I had no hard evidence. Hannah had made sure everyone in Allingford knew that she had done her best to keep Wheelston running.’ His lip curled. ‘How fortunate for her that Phineas Weston needed a housekeeper in the same week that my mother died, and even more fortunate that shortly afterwards Hannah’s aunt died and left her a fortune.’

‘What did you do?’

‘I decided I must talk to Hannah. She kept avoiding me, until at last I ran her down at a reception in Beringham. I challenged her, there and then. She denied that there had ever been a betrothal between us and said she had no idea what had happened to the money I sent home. Weston stepped in then and warned me off, as if I had been some errant schoolboy making mischief. That is when I lost my temper.’ He dropped onto the chair again and rubbed a hand across his eyes. ‘I am not sure now

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.