The Wheel of Fortune Read Online Free PDF Page B

connections, but you were wrong in assuming he had to be over sixty. He was twenty-four, tall, dark and handsome, but having said that I must add that he was quite definitely not a gentleman by English standards, and I have no doubt that he had only one purpose in coming to our obscure corner of Wales and paying his respects to these aging, distant but wealthy relatives of his. He had the mark of the adventurer upon him, and of course it wouldn’t have taken him long, in our small community, to find out that Ginevra is an heiress.
    We met him at the Mowbrays’ house, but if it hadn’t been there it would have been somewhere else — indeed even Lady de Bracy might have received him at Penhale Manor out of courtesy to his relatives who are so thoroughly blameless and respectable. When we met him I could see Ginevra was charmed at once, just as I could see that the young man was, as my dear papa used to say, “a wrong ’un.” I said afterwards to your father: “That’s one young man we don’t invite to Oxmoon,” and your father agreed with me.
    Shortly after this meeting with young Mr. Kinsella a most unfortunate episode occurred. I had to go away — you will remember how I wrote to you recently from Staffordshire after poor Aunt May’s baby died. Of course it’s most unusual for me to be away as I hate leaving home, but May wrote me such a pathetic letter that I felt I would be failing in my sisterly duty if I refused to visit her for a few days. I should have taken Ginevra with me but I knew May would want no visitors other than myself and besides I thought Miss Sale would be able to supervise Ginevra without trouble. Miss Sale might have had her shortcomings as a governess, but she had always been a conscientious chaperone and I had complete confidence in her.
    What can I say except that my confidence was misplaced? There were clandestine meetings on the Downs. I don’t blame Ginevra entirely. Young Conor Kinsella is the kind of man who would lead even the devoutest nun astray, but of course when I came back and found out — as I inevitably did — what was going on I was very angry and so was your father. (Being greatly preoccupied with the estate he too had been all too ready to put his trust in Miss Sale’s competence.)
    Your father and I told Ginevra that we could not permit her to see Mr. Kinsella again, and this edict, I regret to say, led to some most unfortunate words being exchanged between the three of us. This was the night on which Ginevra slipped out of the house and rode all the way to Porteynon to the Kinsellas’ house where she proceeded to throw stones against a window which she supposed to belong to her beloved. It belonged, however, to Miss Bridget. More distasteful scenes ensued. It is quite unnecessary for me to chronicle them in detail, so I shall simply say that Ginevra was left feeling so humiliated and miserable that it seemed kindest to suggest she stayed elsewhere for a while. When she received the suggestion gratefully I appealed to Maud Appleby and Ginevra’s removal to All-Hallows Court was then arranged with the utmost speed.
    Why should she go and live with such people, you ask with such regrettable rudeness. I shall tell you. Looking after Ginevra is going to be an increasingly arduous responsibility and I did not feel Bobby and I had the right to ask for help in any other quarter. As Sir William is her godfather, it is nothing less than his moral duty, to help us surmount such a crisis.
    Your father saw Mr. Kinsella in order to buy him off, but much to our surprise Mr. Kinsella refused to take a penny. We might have been impressed by this if he hadn’t sworn he had never at any time behaved with any impropriety. Of course he was trying to save his skin — no doubt he thought that if he accepted money from us it would rank as a confession of guilt in the eyes of his wealthy relatives — but I fear poor Ginevra must have been quite crushed when she heard he had denied his