Ether & Elephants Read Online Free PDF

hunters, Nell, her half brother Piers and little Jamie McCann would never have survived. Instead they’d become a family, long before they were adopted and four of them shared a legal name.
    She took a deep breath, wishing she could scream at him. He’d promised her. Three years ago, she’d found out about Tom’s hasty marriage at nineteen to rescue a pregnant barmaid from her abusive father. Nell had been furious, but she hadn’t known until now just how badly he’d broken her trust. She’d assumed Tom was being noble and rescuing a relative stranger. The girl had disappeared the next day with Tom’s wallet, and Nell and the rest of the family had thought perhaps it had all been a hoax. Unfortunately the Order’s barristers had judged it legal, putting an end to Nell’s hopes forever. Still, she’d never imagined that this other woman had been carrying Tom’s child. It seemed fate wasn’t through heaping cruelties on her head.
    Nell had always wondered why Tom hadn’t filed for an annulment on grounds of desertion. Now she understood. Not only had he broken his promises to come back and marry Nell, he hadn’t even bothered to be faithful.
    “Nell,” he began, a look of pity on his face that was possibly the worst insult of all. “I know we—”
    She cut him off with a lifted hand. “Well, I suppose we need to find Charlie.” She despised the quaver that invaded her voice. “For everyone’s sake. We should start with the nearest train station. There’s only the main Cornwall line toward either Falmouth or Plymouth.” The station was perhaps a twenty-minute canter by road from the tiny village that was home to the school. The men had rented horses from the station to come to the school, meaning Tom was fretting about the absence of a steam car.
    “Yes.” The ragged edges in Tom’s tone hurt something, low in her gut. No matter how he’d betrayed her, she couldn’t bear to see him in pain. “I’ve searched almost a decade for anyone named Barrowclough, Barclay, Barrow, Berkeley, Barry and so on. I’ve never even heard the name Berrycloth, though I think I’d have noticed it if I’d seen it anywhere.”
    “Me either,” she said. “You know, if she married you under a false name, you might be able to contest it.” Piers, at twenty, had been the youngest man ever to pass the British barristers’ examination. When Nell had first learned of Tom’s situation, she’d pestered her younger brother with questions. Perhaps this new information would change things, prove once and for all that he wasn’t married.
    “I know. But that wouldn’t change the other circumstances. We’ve both been illegitimate, Nell, or at least believed we were. Do you think I could willingly inflict that on any child? Even one who might not be mine? Of all people, you know how vicious our society can be.”
    There wasn’t much she could say to that.
    He stood. “Come on. Show me the boy’s room. Then you can say your goodbyes while I nip down to the train station.”
    After finding absolutely no clues in Charlie’s room, she saw Tom out, then went to the teachers’ parlor, hoping Roger would be there, waiting to take her in to supper. She took several deep breaths before pushing open the door and stepping inside.
    “Nell!” Roger Braithwaite, the school’s mathematics teacher, leaped to his feet. “Darling, I heard you’d resigned. It can’t possibly be true.” Uncaring that three other instructors watched from around the small, comfortably shabby room, Roger caught both of Nell’s hands in his and drew her close.
    “It is true, I’m afraid.” She stepped back and looked up into his sweet, dear face. Roger was a lovely man. Brilliant, modestly attractive with a square face and soulful dark eyes, he often taught exercises and games to the children along with maths. “I’ll write once I’m settled back at home.” She would, but didn’t know if it would be what he wanted to hear.
    He didn’t seem to