Blessop's Wife by Barbara Gaskell Denvil

Author:Barbara Gaskell Denvil [Denvil, Barbara Gaskell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781925911008
Publisher: Gaskell Publishing
Published: 2015-09-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-One

The rain had found a tile loose in the roof over Andrew Cobham’s bed and, slipping between slats and beams and the soaring chimney bricks, finally oozed a dark dampness beside the rising velvet tester. Andrew lay uncovered and at ease against his pillows, gazing up at the spread of the stain, his hands clasped behind his head. ‘It will soon grow mould,’ he reflected, speaking to no one in particular. ‘The house is as rotten as its owner.’

Tyballis was cuddled next to him, half-asleep. Now her eyes snapped open and she wedged herself up on one elbow, staring fiercely. ‘What owner? You own it.’

He smiled up into her frown. ‘Indeed I do, my love. I was thinking of the owner before myself, though no doubt I’m as brutal and dissolute as he was. Are you hoping for confessions, then, and stories from my distant youth?’ He shook his head slightly and looked away, as if still thinking aloud. ‘No, little one,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll permit no foolish reminiscences, allow no weak indulgent memories. That would not serve us at all.’

Tyballis lay down again with a sigh. ‘I know you don’t like talking about yourself,’ she mumbled into his bare shoulder. ‘But I’d like to know more about you, Drew. Just curiosity, I suppose, and – because I care. I don’t mind telling you about myself. You’ve asked sometimes, and I’ve always answered. My life was very tedious, so it’s not quite the same. But I’ll tell you anything you want to know.’

‘I know already.’ He turned to face her again, his finger smoothing away her hair from her cheeks, tucking the curls behind her ears as he liked to do. ‘I’ve a habit of finding whatever I want to know, my love.’

She was taken aback. ‘How? Why? I’d have told you if you’d asked.’

‘No one knows the whole truth about themselves. And nor does anyone else. Ask one, ask another, ask three or four. There are a hundred different answers to every question.’

‘So, what was the question? And who did you ask?’ She was affronted.

‘You’re my question.’ He leaned over abruptly, kissing her eyes shut, hot breath making her blink, his mouth firm on her eyelids. ‘I wanted to know exactly who I was so unaccountably in love with. So, I asked.’

‘You talked to Borin?’

Her anger amused him. ‘So, avenge yourself. Ask me one thing about my past, and I’ll tell you the truth as I remember it. But no doubt you’ve already asked the others about me.’

‘Well, I have,’ she admitted. ‘But no one seems to know anything. Besides, they’re all astonishingly loyal and don’t want to talk behind your back.’ She sniffed, sitting up in bed and folding her arms over her breasts. ‘I’m quite sure you never had that problem with Borin. He’d not recognise loyalty if he bumped into it, and I’m sure he loved saying horrid things about me.’

‘He did.’ Andrew laughed, pulling her back down into his arms. ‘Indeed, I found his complaints about you most endearing.

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