The Drayton Legacy by Rona Randall

Author:Rona Randall [Randall, Rona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2016-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Simon was grateful when Neville Armstrong suggested that his wife should recuperate at Ashburton.

“She would be well cared for, have all the rest she needs, and you would be relieved of anxiety when absent from home. And it would give me happiness to have her beneath my roof.”

He refrained from adding that Jessica’s appearance concerned him. There was a disturbing difference about her. A drastic loss of weight had left almost a wraith of her former self, but not only in appearance had she changed. The vitality which had always been so evident was now missing. She was unnaturally quiet, and plainly reluctant to talk to anyone.

He had heard that childbirth could have after effects on a woman’s moods and temperament, and of course Jessica’s experience had been more tragic, and therefore more painful, than any normal birth, but a terrible apathy seemed to have taken possession of her, from which not even her husband seemed able to arouse her. She would sit rocking by the fireside, her thoughts miles away, though her eyes would follow Simon with touching gratitude when he performed some small service for her. But beyond that gratitude she had retreated into a silence shared with no one.

Inevitably, Kendall was quieter too. The shock of his wife’s accident and its ensuing tragedy had left a mark of anxiety upon him which he was unable to shed even in work.

Anxious to help both of them, Neville Armstrong urged Simon to consider his suggestion. “It might be unwise for your wife to be alone all day in your absence. Loneliness could be bad for her.”

Simon confessed to the same fear. “She insists that she needs no one and that I must go about my work as if nothing has happened, but something has happened and I am afraid it will take her long to recover. Fortunately, she has occasional visitors. Young Martin comes whenever he can, and her mother drives over from Burslem, though I fear the woman’s inability to talk about anything but the tragedy does little to take Jessica’s mind off it. Her sister Phoebe comes not at all, but perhaps that is a good thing — “

“And the Master Potter is not yet back, I hear.”

“Nor will be for another two weeks. The accident happened the day after his wedding, the day he left with his wife for London. I understand they departed for a month. Not that Joseph Drayton is likely to call on us in any case, as you may have guessed. Nor is he likely to feel concern for his sister, since he rejected her when she married me.”

“More fool he,” growled Sir Neville. “I never could abide that man.”

“Nor I, candidly. So, as you may imagine, we manage well without him. So would young Martin, given the opportunity — which the Master of Drayton’s seems determined to deny him.”

“Which is why you and your wife have helped him? His start is well justified, Simon.”

“But meanwhile he is bound by indentures of apprenticeship, after which he should, according to the family tradition, be given a partnership.

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