Complications Read Online Free PDF Page A

sympathy.”
    Lottie looked dubious about this. She was
innocent but not naïve.
    “Perhaps you would feel better for a little
fresh air. We could stroll round the park or visit the shops?”
    Lottie shook her head. “Mama says the same
thing but I just cannot face them all yet.”
    “You will feel better soon.” Amelia
wondered which of them she was trying to convince. She had never seen Lottie in
so broken a state and had no idea what to do to help her. Worse, she remembered
her selfish dislike of the engagement and realised what a terrible friend she
had been. She would refuse offers of marriage for an entire year if only she
could see Lottie happy again.
    They spoke for a while longer but Lottie
seemed too tired and distracted to cope with much conversation. When Amelia
went downstairs she saw Mr Benjamin Harrington looking out of the library
window, a shuttered expression on his normally expressive face, and walked into
the room to join him.
    “I have never seen her so dejected,” she
confessed.
    “Nor I. I could kill Saverney for this,” Mr
Harrington said.
    “Yes. Do you think poison would be a
sufficiently unpleasant death for him?”
    He gave a wan smile and said, “It is worth
considering.”
    * * *
    Mr Brightford, too, was worried for Mr
Harrington’s family. He had spent the morning looking over horses to find a
good quality matching pair for his new curricle, with several friends, and
aside from the quality of the aforementioned geldings, Saverney’s desertion of Miss
Harrington was all anyone wanted to talk about.
    When Brightford had first heard of the
scandal he had been appalled. He had always thought Saverney to be a
wishy-washy fellow, following the instructions of his mother like a child, but
he never expected him to rebel in such a cruel, destructive manner. Saverney
had ruined his own standing in society and left Miss Harrington the subject of
damaging gossip that might haunt her for the rest of her life.
    Miss Harrington was a young lady who had
Brightford’s greatest respect, her demure behaviour, modesty and quiet warmth
impressing him. She was the opposite of that irritating friend of hers. Miss
Daventry might be a beauty of the first order but she was all too aware of the
fact and her arrogance, mercenary pursuit of a wealthy husband and outspoken
tongue annoyed him every time he saw her.
    Miss Harrington was faultless in this
matter and she must be suffering badly from Saverney’s treatment and from being
the focus of everyone’s interest in the worst way. Without the support of
people around her, this event could ruin her life. Brightford resolved to visit
her brother the next day and express his desire to help the family in any way
he could. He doubted the self-centred Miss Daventry was even concerned about
her friend…
    * * *
    At something of a loss without Lottie
beside her, Amelia put on her riding clothes and took her mare for a ride in
the park, accompanied by one of the grooms. A couple of men, barely older than
her, paid her compliments but she was not interested in silly flattery. She
tried to think of some little gift she could get for her friend but such things
seemed meaningless compared to the enormity of Lottie’s pain. It seemed like a
terrible failure on her own part that she could do nothing to help. Worse still
was the memory of her jealousy of Lottie’s engagement. She was not used to
finding fault with herself but could not deny the conviction that Lottie had
always been a far better friend than she herself had.
    Lottie’s engagement to a wealthy man had
been a matter of great importance to her family. They had used to have a good
deal of money but Lottie’s grandfather had been an idle second son who
inherited the estate when his sibling died then spent the rest of his life
gambling money away and doing no work to keep the estate in order. It was
Lottie’s father who had struggled to re-build the estate, in the end only
saving it - Lottie had revealed - by