Rivals of Fortune / The Impetuous Heiress by Jane Ashford

Author:Jane Ashford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc
Published: 2016-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

Twenty-two

As if giving way before their determination, the rain trailed off during the early hours before dawn, and the following day was overcast but not wet. The Rowntree party arrived at the Abbey immediately after breakfast, finding Jonathan Erland awaiting them there.

“The young men from Oxford will be along in a bit,” he told them. “I sent a note round.”

Mr. Rowntree waved this aside. “We cannot wait. Come along, come along.”

The grounds were very muddy, and there was water standing here and there in the ruins, several patches near where they would work. The two younger men looked at them unenthusiastically.

“What did you do about Valiant?” Frederick asked Erland in a subdued voice.

“The stableboy wrapped him up well. I am waiting to ask Carstairs what he would like,” replied the man quietly.

Frederick nodded.

“Here we are,” said Mr. Rowntree. “To work.” He knelt beside the paving stone they had been loosening and began to tap at the mortar ineffectually. Gerald got a chisel and joined him, while Erland looked for a larger tool.

Joanna glanced about in hopes of finding a dry place to sit, but there was none. With a sigh, she spread her cloak on a wet rock and sank down there. She felt rather useless today. She could not dig, and there would be no sketching, at least not until the stone was raised. And she was also annoyed. Frederick was so smug after his “talk” with Jonathan Erland, that he would not tell her what they had said or decided or any more about the passageway he had discovered. Watching Erland and Gerald bend over the rock, she grimaced. It really did not seem fair that she should be excluded now.

As she morosely watched the men gouge out mortar, a movement off to the side caught her eye. Frederick was making his way off across the ruins, in the direction of the house. Hurriedly, Joanna got up to follow him.

“Frederick!” she called commandingly.

The boy started and turned as she came up with him. “What is it?”

“Where are you going?”

“I shall be back in a while. I must see about something.”

“In the house? What is it? Your passage?”

“Oh, Joanna, do let be. I’ll be back in…”

Joanna set her jaw. “I’m coming with you.”

“You can’t!”

“Oh, can’t I? Why not? There’s nothing for me to do here; I’m perfectly free to help you. Are you going to clear out the passage?”

Her brother glowered. “Never mind what I am going to do. I don’t want you.”

“Well, perhaps I shall go and tell the others all about it then. I’m sure Father would like to see what you have found.”

Frederick sighed. “Do just as you please. I don’t care. But Mr. Erland will be mad as fire if you spoil everything now.”

“Does he know where you are going?” asked the girl, dismayed.

“He knows all about it.”

As if to confirm this, Jonathan Erland called to her at that moment. “Miss Rowntree, could you help us for a moment?”

Slowly and reluctantly, she went to him.

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