Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill: (Georgian Series) Read Online Free PDF

greet the Framptons.
    As they cantered across the park surrounding the castle Edward’s horse stumbled over a molehill and he was thrown right out of the saddle. He lay still on the grass while the horse cantered back to the stables.
    Maria hastily dismounted.
    ‘Edward,’ she cried. ‘Oh … my dearest …’
    Edward opened his eyes.
    ‘Thank God,’ she cried. ‘Edward, I am going to get help … Just lie still … and wait.’
    Edward was apparently uninjured by the fall but his doctors advised him to remain in bed for a week or so. The incident had been a great shock to him, they said.
    Maria proved herself to have another excellent quality: she was a good nurse. A week passed and Edward did not recover. No bones were broken, but it was certain that the fall had had an adverse effect. He seemed to have aged considerably and although he was at peace while Maria was at his bedside his memory seemed to be failing.
    Two weeks passed. The doctors shook their heads. They did not understand his condition. The fall had not appeared to be serious and yet after it he changed considerably.
    ‘Good nursing is what he needs,’ they told Maria. ‘But keep him quiet for a little longer.’
    Maria rarely left the sick room; but she noticed that each day her husband was growing more feeble.
    And one morning when she went into his room and spoke to him he did not answer.
    She went close to the bed and stared at him. One glance was enough to show her that she was a widow.

Mrs Fitzherbert
    IT WAS NOT until the will was read that Maria realized what had happened and that she alone was responsible for her position. The new will had lain unsigned and forgotten in the bureau during Edward’s illness and in the old one there was no mention of Maria. How could there have been? Edward had been unaware of her existence when he had written it. The Castle and Edward’s fortune therefore had all gone to his brother Thomas and there was not a penny for Maria.
    Thomas – Edward’s brother – arrived at the castle. He was sorry for Maria and assured her that she would not be left without means of support.
    ‘You should not concern yourself with me,’ she told him. ‘I shall return to my parents.’
    Thomas thought that would be the wisest plan; he would however insist on making her a small allowance which he was sure was what his brother would have wished.
    Maria knew that what her husband had wished was to leave her the castle and the bulk of his fortune, but she did not remind Thomas of this. She herself was to blame. Who would have thought on that sunny morning when she had persuaded Edward to postpone the signing of his will that such an act could have the effect of making her a poor widow instead of a rich one?
    But she was young and she could not regret the loss of a fortune. She was still mourning for Edward whom she had loved, if not passionately, with devotion and gratitude.
    She was delighted when Papa arrived to take her back to Brambridge.
    Mary Smythe was glad to have her daughter at home, but she did deplore what she called her lack of worldliness. Edward had been ready to sign his will and what had stopped him was Maria … the chief beneficiary!
    ‘My goodness!’ cried Mary. ‘What irony! A fortune handed to you and you calmly say, “Later, please. Let us ride first.” Really, Maria!’
    ‘Oh, Mamma, how was I to know …?’
    ‘No, no, my dearest, of course you did not. But I think you should try and take a slightly more practical view in future.’
    ‘Mamma, it is over. Dear Edward is 4ead and I am not rich, though I have enough. I must be content with that.’
    Mary Smythe sighed. Her daughter grew more beautiful every day. Would a young widow have as much chance of finding a husband as an unmarried girl? She was not sure, for the widow was very little better off than the young girl had been.
    Maria stayed at her parents’ house for some months and then decided to take a cottage nearby on Colden Common, which