The Constant Lovers by Chris Nickson

Author:Chris Nickson [Nickson, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Publisher: Creme de la Crime
Published: 2012-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

He decided to take the long road back to Leeds. For a short journey that had seemed so straightforward when he set out, he was returning with much to consider. The old Roman road petered out where it crossed the bigger Newcastle road and he turned, letting the horse take its time as he rode towards Chapel Allerton. There was a tavern there that he knew, a place he’d visited often when there were hangings up on Chapeltown Moor. They’d have water for the animal and something good to slake his own thirst.

So Sarah had had a lover before she was wed, and he was as certain as he needed to be that it had been Will Jackson. And it hadn’t ended after her marriage. He understood why she’d played things so close and her maid had said nothing. Secrets always spread like a wild fire once they were out; a word, a whisper was all it took.

What really puzzled him, though, was what he’d learnt at the Gibton house. However strange the man was, he’d never heard of behaviour like that before. From all the tales, he hoped he’d never meet her Ladyship, but things must have been bad if he’d sent the servants away for a few days. The timing, too, was especially interesting.

It was no surprise, perhaps, that Lord Gibton hadn’t mentioned it during their interview. More secrets to keep quiet. A family with plenty of those, it seemed.

At the inn he settled the horse at the trough and bought a mug of ale, deliciously cold, with just enough edge of bitterness to satisf y him. Two farmers were talking quietly in another corner of the room, but otherwise he had the place to himself.

The more he thought, the more he wondered at the curious coincidence of Lady Gibton’s dark mood happening just when her daughter was due to visit. He didn’t care for coincidences. He mulled it over, slowly and deliberately examining the idea, until eventually he was willing to concede that coincidence was all this might be. Sarah’s visit to her parents was a surprise. Godlove had told him that right at the start. So they wouldn’t have known she was coming.

The more he discovered about the family, the more it disturbed him. There was an ugly strain of madness in them. But there was more than that. He knew the gentry had their own ways, but to blatantly sell their daughter the way they had, that was cold, calculating, and beyond his understanding. At times a life with no social position to worry about was much easier.

He gulped down the remainder of the ale, and left. Time to reflect had only brought more confusion. While he’d been inside, clouds had thickened in the west until they were bearing down dark and thick from the Pennines and promising another storm to clean out the day.

Riding back down to Leeds the city was spread out before him, the spires of the churches standing out, with the sharp, warm colour of Red House visible on the Head Row.

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