The Cornish Heiress Read Online Free PDF Page B

revenge was not complete because his murderer escaped
only lightly wounded. Not realizing at first that the most important malefactor
had slipped through their hands, the Customs men rounded up about half the men
and all the cargo and were quite content. Then Edward’s body was discovered.
Soon there was no doubt of either the reason for his death or who had committed
the crime. A search was instituted for Black Bart, but it was rather cursory.
It was assumed that he would be very far out of the district or hidden in one
of the numerous caves in the area, of which an adequate examination was
impossible and very dangerous.
    This assumption did not take into consideration the fact
that the wound Bart had sustained, although not deadly, was in a spot that made
both walking and riding very painful. In addition, he hated the caves. They
generated in him a nameless terror that could reduce him to a whimpering jelly.
This combination forced him into an abandoned hut about halfway between Bolliet
and Treen. He had slept there a few times in the past and knew no one ever
visited the spot but a gigantic deaf-mute named John, who came to tend his
mother’s grave.
    When news of Edward’s death and the reason for it came to
Megaera, she had been frozen with surprise—and relief. Respectful of her
seeming shocked grief, the sympathetic Justice of the Peace had encouraged her
to retire to recover herself. Kind neighbors had arranged the funeral and kept
her father from disgracing himself in public. If any of them had known what
Megaera was thinking those few days she kept to her room, people would have
recommended she be confined to a straitjacket. However, the thoughts did not show
in her remarkable violet eyes, bitter thoughts, at first only about the debts
that would soon complete Edward’s revenge even though he was dead.
    If only she had known what he was doing, it occurred to
Megaera later, she could have got the money away from him. She could have
prevented him from betraying the gang so that the money, whatever it was, could
be used to pay the debts. Megaera had wept long and bitterly, and everyone felt
deep sympathy for her, believing she had loved her worthless husband in spite
of or in ignorance of, his faults. Sweet and innocent, most of them thought her,
and marveled at how she had found the strength to manage the estates and her
father without collapsing under the burden. This was the last straw, they
surmised.
    Robert Partridge, the family physician, had known better
when he was summoned to attend Megaera. He was somewhat in her confidence
because he treated her father and had treated Edward that time John had beaten
him nearly to death. He knew Megaera with her big violet eyes, little tip-tilted
nose, and sweet rosy lips was as tough as whipcord. He came in haste, but to
congratulate her on her fortunate release, not to support her faltering spirit.
In his hurry he nearly stumbled over big John’s feet. The deaf-mute was leaning
on the wall beside his mistress’s door, trembling with fear. Partridge patted
the giant’s shoulder comfortingly, but it had little effect. Only Megaera could
comfort him. She was the only person who could really communicate with John
after his mother died.
    As the doctor walked into the room and held out his hands to
Megaera in a wordless gesture of understanding, John’s history passed through
his mind. The boy had been the last child of a shepherd and his wife, conceived
some freak of nature when both were too old to expect such a result from their
intercourse. Partridge had not really been surprised when the woman had brought
the three-year-old to his office because the child could not speak or hear.
Children born so late in their parents lives sometimes were defective. He had
confirmed sadly that the condition was permanent. What had surprised him was
that the boy was clean, well-fed, and responded well to signs his mother made
to him.
    Partridge had not seen John again for many years,