Abbeyford Remembered Read Online Free PDF

have a vendetta against the Trents led the villagers in revolt.”
    Carrie was not sure what the word ‘vendetta’ meant, but she could guess! Now she was silent.
    â€œThey threatened to march upon the Manor if my father did not give them better wages.”
    â€œAnd – and did they?” she asked faintly.
    â€œAye,” Jamie Trent answered grimly. “But my father had been forewarned of this. My stepmother and my grandfather had, whilst out riding, come across a secret meeting of the village men in the abbey ruins. My father called out the yeomanry and as the village men marched upon the Manor the soldiers galloped down upon them.”
    A vivid picture of the crippled old man – her own grandfather, she believed – flashed before her eyes. So that was how Henry Smithson had been maimed. And the revolt had been led by Evan Smithson, her own father. He was the man of whom Jamie spoke as having a – a vendetta against the Trent family. She frowned, vaguely remembering something else. It had been when her grandmother had been telling Evan that Wallis Trent – Jamie’s father – had been killed that night. Now, what was it her father had said …?
    â€œWas there a fire at the Manor?” she turned her violet eyes towards Jamie. His face only a breath away, his lips so close to her hair.
    â€œWhy, yes,” there was surprise in his tone. “ How did you know?”
    â€œOh – I – er – well,” Carrie was flustered. There she went again, letting her curiosity outrun her. Why, why, did she not think before she spoke? “ You said – you said they were marching on the Manor – I suppose they meant to do it damage – and fire …”
    â€œYes,” Jamie agreed. “One of them – the leader – escaped, mainly, I believe, because my stepmother went to warn the villagers.”
    â€œYour stepmother?” Now it was Carrie’s turn to show surprise.
    â€œYes. She did not agree with my father that the yeomanry should be called out. She tried to prevent the bloodshed.”
    â€œHow very brave of her.” Carrie said swiftly, and then once more regretted her hasty words. Perhaps Jamie had believed his father to be in the right.
    â€œOr foolhardy – whichever way you like to look at it.” His tone, gave nothing away.
    â€œAnd – which way do you look at it?” she asked boldly.
    She felt the sigh rise in his chest and then upon her hair. “ I cannot judge. There was much bitterness. I understand my father was a hard man – hated by the villagers. Perhaps there was cause – I don’t know. He was trying to rescue his favourite stallion from the burning stables. The animal was wild and killed him.”
    Carrie remembered now – that was what her grandmother, Sarah Smithson, had said.
    â€œAnd your stepmother?”
    Jamie smiled and there was a gentleness in his eyes. “ She’s Lady Adelina Lynwood now. She’s very beautiful and has always been very kind to me. I’m very fond of her.”
    Adelina! Her father had spoken of her as if he had known her. But so he might have done, for she had been Wallis Trent’s second wife and therefore mistress of the Manor for a while.
    Now it was Jamie’s turn to ask probing questions. “ Your grandparents are Sarah and Henry Smithson?”
    â€œY-yes,” Carrie answered guardedly, her heart beating fast again.
    â€œStrange,” Jamie murmured. “I had not heard of their son. He must have left home many years ago.”
    â€œI don’t know,” the words came out in a rush. “I didn’t even know he came from hereabouts until the other day.”
    â€œReally? Has he never talked about his family or …?”
    â€œYou can put me down now, Mr Trent, I can walk the rest of the way. It’s only over the next hill.”
    â€œOh, please allow me to take you