Miss Winbolt and the Fortune Hunter Read Online Free PDF Page B

more than a vagabond. Certainly no one a respectable spinster like me could ever consider as a husband! No, I don’t think I shall marry, whatever Mrs Gosworth says.’ She paused, and then said hesitantly, ‘In fact, I have a different plan for the future. You could help me with it, if you would.’
    â€˜Of course I will,’ said Rosa. ‘But what is it?’
    â€˜If Philip agreed, I should like most of all to set up house on my own. Near at hand, of course. You could help me to persuade him.’
    Rosa was deeply shocked. She turned on Emily. ‘What a dreadful idea! I won’t do anything of the sort. I wouldn’t be at all happy with such an arrangement and neither would Philip. This is your home, Emily, and the only good reason for you to leave it would be with a man who loves you and wants to marry you.’ She stopped short, and continued more slowly, her voice revealing how hurt she was, ‘What have we done that you should prefer to live alone, however near at hand? I thought you loved us.’
    Emily sighed inwardly and wished she had said nothing. It was just as she had foreseen. And Philip’s reaction would be just the same. How could she explain to two of the people she loved best in the world that she often felt lonely in their company, often felt like an outsider, a hanger-on, however kindly they treated her? She loved them, enjoyed their company, and would always want to spend time with them. But she would never be really content until she was mistress of her own establishment, creating a garden again, planning improvements. In that way she would feel in de pen dent enough to spend as much time as she wanted with them, without feeling she was intruding on their idyll. They were so happy together. She sighed again. They would never understand. It was an impossible dream.
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    Meanwhile Emily’s stranger had arrived at Thirle, where he was staying with Lady Deardon, his godmother.
    â€˜Really, William, you are a disgrace! What the servants think of you I cannot imagine.’
    â€˜Good God, ma’am, since when have we had to worry what the servants think? You don’t pay ’em to think!’
    Lady Deardon tapped her stick impatiently. ‘Your life in South America has spoilt you, my boy. Mark my words, you’ll soon change your tune when you have an establishment of your own to run here in England. Good servants are to be treasured. Your man arrived some time ago with your baggage. I cannot for the life of me call him your valet. Anyone less like a gentleman’s gentleman would be difficult to imagine. But I suppose he knows what to do. Do go and put some respectable clothes on before Reggie sees you. You know what a stickler he is, and he’ll be back for dinner soon. Then you can tell me your news.’
    â€˜There isn’t much,’ William said briefly, as he went out. ‘I haven’t seen anything I’d call really suitable.’
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    Emily would not have recognised him when he at last came down stairs again. Not only had he washed and shaved, but everything about him, from his carefully brushed hair to his gleaming evening shoes, his immaculate shirt and perfectly tied cravat, his beautifully fitted coat of blue super fine and snowy white pantaloons, pronounced him to be a gentleman of some distinction.
    â€˜I must say you scrub up well,’ said Lady Deardon. ‘Why you choose to wander about the countryside like a tramp I cannot imagine. Reggie has just arrived. He’s dressing now, so there’s time for us to have a talk. Have you heard anything more about the children?’
    â€˜The latest news is that they will stay in Jamaica withthe Warburtons until they can all come to England some time in the autumn.’
    â€˜Who are these Warburtons?’
    â€˜Good friends of mine from my days in the Navy. When John died so unexpectedly, they took the children in.’
    â€˜Poor little things. I