For Elise Read Online Free PDF

roasted chestnuts from Miles and Beth. The nursery where she’d found Miles after his mother’s death. They’d sat there for hours, neither one talking but both understanding his pain. But clearer than all the rest was the Epsworth library and the bitter, hateful words that had ended her time there.
    She would be there again. Facing it all.
    “I am afraid,” she whispered into the dark room. “I am so very afraid.”
    She focused on Anne. The girl disliked the dark—she felt lost without light. Elise pulled Anne close to her, tucking the blanket around them both. Anne curled into a ball with Elise’s arms wrapped around her. She was so tiny, not a baby but not fully a child yet either. Elise settled Anne’s head beneath her chin. She closed her eyes and hoped she would quickly fall asleep. Only in the oblivion of slumber did the pain leave her.
    * * *
    Little was spoken of at dinner. Miles knew he was poor company, his mind occupied every minute of the evening with thoughts of the past.
    It slid over him in alarming detail, as if he were living it anew.
    “Upon your father’s death, all of his responsibilities, financial and otherwise, fell to you, Mr. Linwood.” Mr. Cane, the family solicitor, had set a stack of papers on the desk in the Epsworth library. “Of course you will need time to sort out all of these.”
    Miles had nodded mechanically, fingering the black band around his arm. Father had been gone only forty-eight hours. It was still too surreal for comprehension. His mind struggled to wrap around his loss, let alone his new responsibilities.
    “I would not burden you with these”—Mr. Cane indicated the stack— “if not for two pressing matters which require your immediate attention.”
    Miles took a deep breath. He was only nineteen years old. He ought to have been preparing to return to Oxford, not mourning his father and taking over the management of their estate. “What are these pressing obligations?”
    “Your father left behind some debts.”
    Miles nodded a little impatiently. His father had not been irresponsible. The debts would be insignificant.
    “And there is also the welfare of your late father’s ward.”
    “His ward?” Miles had never heard of his father having been someone’s guardian.
    “Your ward now,” Mr. Cane said. “I understand it has been determined that Mr. Furlong predeceased your late father.”
    Miles nodded.
    “Your father was named in Mr. Furlong’s will as guardian to his daughter,” Mr. Cane said. “Upon Mr. Furlong’s death, guardianship passed to your father and, upon his death, passed to you.”
    “Elise? I am Elise’s guardian?”
    “It seems so.” Mr. Cane gave him a significant look. “I do not believe she has any family and cannot be expected, at sixteen—”
    “Fifteen,” Miles corrected.
    “At fifteen,” Mr. Cane amended, “to live alone or manage her own affairs.”
    “She will always have a home with me,” Miles assured the man. He would no sooner abandon Elise than he would Beth.
    “You are now responsible for all of her concerns,” Mr. Cane said. “The late Mr. Furlong did not leave his affairs in a favorable way.”
    “In what way are they unfavorable?” It seemed he was to have trouble heaped on top of trouble.
    “The bulk of the difficulty lies with the Furlong finances. You will find a brief overview in the papers provided.”
    One of the advantages of both Mr. Furlong and Miles’s father having used the same solicitor was how the connection would simplify Miles’s sudden load of responsibilities. Still, he let out a tense breath. What he wouldn’t give for the freedom to go for a long, bruising ride and simply leave his obligations behind.
    “I should go speak with Elise.” Miles wondered how she was holding up. Elise had said very little since coming to stay at Epsworth a few short hours after their fathers’ deaths.
    “I have not said anything of this to Miss Furlong,” Mr. Cane said. “I felt that was