Always Come Home (Emerson 1) Read Online Free PDF

write. Ava – Miss
Conway – is teaching me. But I could tell her and she could write it down for
you.”
    “I am sorry. I did not mean to embarrass you.”
    She smiled. “Pay it no mind. And I can make you
some before you leave. For your trip.”
    “Thank you. For everything.”
    They heard the housekeeper calling for Maude.
    “I have to go clean up. Better eat quickly or…”
    “The dogs will get it. Yes.”
    Maude got up to leave, then turned to him. “What’s
your name?”
    “Victor Stemple.”
    “It was nice meeting you, Victor. I’ll get you that
list and the salve as soon as I can.”
    Then she was gone. And Victor was embarrassed to
wipe a tear from his eye. For while he’d long ago grown used to cruelty, he
had been wholly unprepared for such kindness.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Colin waited as long as he’d dared before going
downstairs to dinner. And it still had not been long enough. For as soon as
he arrived, Clayton, who was standing next to Nigel Hemsworth – who was a shade
under five feet four inches tall – called everyone back into his study for
another round of drinks.
    “Ridgeway, you remember our old friends, don’t you?”
asked Clayton.
    Their “old friends” consisted of a dozen of the
meanest boys ever to attend Eton. If there had been one advantage to having a
father who routinely beat his children, it was that Colin had learned from an
early age how to defend himself. His father had liked it when his sons tried
to fight back, though it had been mostly useless against his much greater size
and strength. But after fighting his father, the bullies at Eton had been no
match for him. Clayton and the others had even asked him to join their gang.
But Colin had known too much violence in his young life and certainly had no
desire to inflict it on anyone else. So, instead, he made a point of defending
other boys from Clayton’s gang.
    By the time they’d reached Oxford, Colin had found
his own friends, including Edward Kellington, the brother of the Duke of
Lynwood, who was two years ahead of them in school.
    Even when he’d spent much of the past few years
living at house parties, he’d avoided Clayton and his cronies whenever possible.
They were now older but by no means grown up. However, now he could not escape
their company, at least for the evening.
    “Ridgeway, is it true you were on the mail coach?”
asked the height-challenged Hemsworth. “When Clayton told us, we could hardly
believe it. Are things that bad?”
    “Certainly not. Riding the mail coach brings back
memories of being punished at Eton. I figure a certain amount of torture is
good for the soul. May I?” he asked Clayton, even as he poured himself a
drink.
    “How did we ever get through Eton?” asked Ian
Maplewhite, the third son of the Marquess of Bromley. “It gives me nightmares
even now to think of what the headmaster would do when he was displeased. My
eldest brother will send his son off next year. I almost feel sorry for the
little bastard.”
    “Nonsense,” said Clayton. “It’ll make a man out of
him. And if he makes the right friends, he won’t have to worry about punishment,
even from the headmaster. These days, a well-placed bribe does wonders.
Though in poor Ridgeway’s case, a bribe would be out of the question. Not that
he’ll have the chance to send his sons to Eton unless he snags the heiress he’s
so desperate to catch. If not, mayhap he can have the vicar teach them. How
goes the matrimonial hunt, old boy? I can only assume not well, given the mail
coach.”
    “I have not yet found the right lady,” admitted
Ridgeway. “I will begin again in the new year.”
    “And how impressive it will be as you arrive in
London on the back of a farmer’s cart,” said Hemsworth, who then laughed at his
own jest, after looking to Clayton for approval.
    “Yes, well, at least I shall be able to see over the
sides of it,” said Ridgeway. His comment drew genuine laughs from everyone
except