Page 65 of Scandal at Greystone Manor

‘Do you think Sir Edward would accept financial help from me?’

‘I am sure he would not and I beg you not to mention it. His pride has already been badly bruised. In any case, the debts are all in the hands of one man and selling the Manor to pay him is the only way Papa will have anything left.’

‘You cannot mean Lord Bolsover?’

‘Yes. He has done exactly what he did to Teddy.’

‘The man is evil. I cannot understand his motive.’

‘No, but I found something interesting the other day,’ she said. ‘I believe he has a connection with Hadlea.’

‘I have never heard of it.’

‘I found a headstone in the graveyard, not in the consecrated area, but just outside it. It commemorated Colin Bolsover Paget, son of Lord and Lady Paget who died by his own hand in 1649. He was only twenty-seven. There were other old Paget memorials, but none with the name of Bolsover that I could see.’

‘It was probably his mother’s maiden name.’

‘But surely it means there is a connection?’

‘It could be coincidence.’

‘I do not think so. Lord Bolsover talked of the Manor, of revenge, do you remember?’

‘Yes.’ He paused. ‘I doubt it will make any difference, but I am curious enough to want to find out the story behind that suicide. There are old books at Broadacres that my father collected about the history of the area. I will see what I can unearth.’

‘Thank you. I do not know what I would do without you.’

‘You said that before.’

‘I meant it.’

He stood up and held out his hand to help her rise. ‘We had better go back to the house. Lady Cavenhurst will be waiting for you.’

* * *

‘Did you tell Mark?’ her mother said as the little pony took them back to the Manor.

‘Yes. He deserved the truth.’ She fell silent for a moment, then added, ‘What did Lady Wyndham say?’

‘She was shocked. We cried together. I shall miss her more than I can say, but she says we are welcome to visit as often as we like. After all, Mark will be our son-in-law.’

Jane contemplated this idea, but it made her so miserable she thrust it from her. She really must stop thinking about him; he was not for her and never would be. If she could cut herself off from him, she would, but they were both so heavily involved in the Hadlea Children’s Home project, there was nothing for it but do as she had told him she would: tread her chosen path firmly. But, oh, how her heart ached.

‘Helen said she would need a butler and a housekeeper when she moved into the dower house and would be happy to take on Saunders and Mrs Driver. Daniel, too, because she would need a coachman and she did not want to deprive Mark of his menservants.’

‘That was kind of her.’

‘I wish you were not so stubborn about not coming with us, Jane. It is not seemly for an unmarried lady to live alone.’

‘I won’t be alone. I’ll have staff—perhaps some of the Manor staff will come with me. Besides, I am well past the age of needing a chaperon.’

He ladyship sighed. ‘If you must, you must, but at least you will be near Isabel and Mark.’

Jane made no answer to that.

* * *

The following days at Greystone Manor were unhappy ones. Everyone was going about with long faces and tear-filled eyes while they began tackling the packing up of those belongings they would be taking with them. Lady Cavenhurst had received a letter from her parents telling her they would all be welcome, that if they preferred a home of their own, one of their tenant farmers was moving away and they were welcome to move in to his house.

‘It’s a barn of a place,’ she grumbled. ‘With no conveniences at all. And freezing in the winter. I am beginning to feel like the poor relation.’

Jane refrained from pointing out the truth of that and instead suggested her mother should decide what to take to make it more homely. Her ladyship would have liked to take everything—sofas, pictures, ornaments, crockery, cutlery, linen—but was warned by her husband he did not intend to hire more than one large wagon and she had better make up her mind what was essential and what could be left behind and sold. He was, Jane noted, uncharacteristically sharp with everyone and she knew the strain was telling on him. Sophie was flinging clothes all over her bedroom and bemoaning the fact that she could not take her pony. Isabel, who had quite made up her mind to marry Mark after all, was reviewing her wardrobe, knowing she could buy whatever she liked in clothes when she became Lady Wyndham, but she certainly did not look happy about it.

---