She was going along the corridor that led past the estate offices, when one of the side doors flew open, and the earl emerged, looking thunderous.

'What do you think you are doing down here?'

She had never seen him with so much colour in his face. Not that it made him look any healthier than normal.

'I am just on my way to the stables,' she said, tugging her shawl more tightly round her shoulders.

'Thought you could sneak past me, did you? Flouting my authority by going riding though I have for bid den it!' He bore down on her, his eyes glittering with rage. 'Sly! Like all women! The minute your husband's back is turned, you think you may do just as you please! But you won't get away with it. I shall have the staff watching your every movement!'

It was a shock to see him act like this. Though Monty had de scribed him as almost apoplectic with rage over a disagreement they'd had, she had a.s.sumed he must have been exaggerating.

'No,' she said in what she hoped was a soothing tone, and holding out the apple she had picked up for Misty, 'I was just going to...'

'The apple never falls very far from the tree, does it!' he said, before she could explain she had no intention of going for a ride. 'You are the product of the most notorious couple of my day. And you are just like them. Lascivious. Leaving trails of clothing all over the house. Luring your husband into the stables, so he can satisfy your itch in broad daylight!'

Midge was so shocked by the way the earl was berating her, the spittle flying from his mouth, that she simply backed away, open-mouthed. No wonder people put up with his cold, sarcastic moods, she thought as she fetched up against the wall, if crossing him could result in a scene like this.

'Mildenhall is a fool if he thinks you will not find some way to amuse yourself while he is in London setting up a mistress. Sauce for the goose, that is what women like you say, is it not? Plotting to get one of the stable lads to stand in for your husband, are you?'

She gasped in outrage, but the earl gave her no chance to refute the wild accusation.

'That is why I advised him only to marry a woman he could not possibly fall in love with. To spare him this sort of pain!'

He might just as well have struck her.

'He is not,' she cried, 'setting up a mistress!'

The earl flung back his head and laughed. 'Of course he is. Did you think a man like him could stomach staying down here, servicing a plain little baggage like you, when there are pretty pretty women avail able in town? I told him so long as he married, and provided Shevington with an heir, I would frank his purchase of whatever woman he really wanted. Deserves his reward for doing his duty to the Claremont line,' he finished on a sneer. women avail able in town? I told him so long as he married, and provided Shevington with an heir, I would frank his purchase of whatever woman he really wanted. Deserves his reward for doing his duty to the Claremont line,' he finished on a sneer.

'You are poisonous!' she gasped. Even if all he said was true, to fling it in her face like this was down right cruel.

'How dare you speak to me like that!' he hissed. 'Get back to your room!' He pointed down the corridor, and Midge, frightened by the malevolence that burned in his eyes, fled like a startled rabbit.

She did not stop running till she was safely in her room with the door shut firmly behind her. The man was unhinged! She had always wondered how on earth he could treat Monty and the twins so unkindly. Now she wondered if it was this kind of irrational behaviour that had driven his third wife into those affairs she was famous for having. Or whether he had imagined them all in some fit of insane jealousy!

And as for what he had said about Monty's reasons for leaving...they could not be true!

They just couldn't!

And yet, had she not always wondered why he was so reluctant to stay in her bed all night? He had let her think it was on account of the night mares, but the minute there was a suspicion she might be pregnant...oh! She sank to the sofa, covering her face with her hands. Had he always looked on making love with her as a performance of his duty to the Claremont line? He had certainly ceased per forming the minute Dr Cottee had con firmed there was no need for him to bother any more! And now that he had got her pregnant, he was off to London to find a pretty pretty woman as a reward for having done his woman as a reward for having done his duty duty to the family name. to the family name.

No wonder Monty had protested so vigorously when she had suggested accompanying him to London! It would be harder to trawl for a pretty mistress with a pregnant wife in tow.

Not that it had ever stopped her father.

She sat up straight, wondering what on earth possessed her to make excuses for Monty, even as he was on the verge of being un faithful to her. What kind of idiot appreciated her husband for his discretion in setting up his mistress?

One who had always known he was far too good for her. One who had gone into this marriage knowing he was never likely to fall in love with her. One who...was about to be sick!

She re treated to her bedroom and her chamber pot, and when the maid came up with her lunch tray, almost ordered the girl to just take it away. She was in no fit state to swallow a single mouthful.

Though she was glad she had not done so when the twins came in a short time later. They took one look at the loaded tray and began to help them selves to her un touched sandwiches, stuffing some into their mouths and some into their pockets for later.

How often must they have been on the receiving end of one of the earl's tantrums? Many times, probably. She only had to think of the dread with which they had regarded him the day they had brought their pets into the house. No wonder they spent almost all their time out of doors or hobn.o.bbing with the lower servants!

She tried to raise a smile for them, but it was an effort.

And the boys noticed.

'We know you're going to have a baby,' said Tobe, his disdainful gaze flicking down to her stomach.

'And that you don't want us here any more,' said Jem, resentfully.

'Oh, no!' She had not thought it was possible to feel any worse, but her heart sank as she realized the earl must have told them he was going to send them to school in such a cruel way that they believed it was some kind of punishment. She stretched out her hands, wanting to explain, but as one, they backed away from her.

'We only came to pa.s.s on a message from that friend of yours.'

'The one on the black horse.'

'He came smash up to us in the bluebell clearing where we showed you the badger's set.'

'Asked where you were. Told us to tell you he wanted to see you. And that he's staying at the Silent Woman down at Shevington Cross roads.'

'And then he clapped his hand to his head and went a funny colour and kind of hunched over the horse's mane.'

'Think he was going to be sick.'

'Anyway, we said we'd tell you he needed to see you, and we have.'

'But we ain't going to do you any more favours!'

'We thought you were our friend!' cried Tobe angrily.

'I am...' she protested, but it was too late. The pair of them had dashed from the room, slamming the door behind them. She buried her head in her hands again with a groan. The twins were all that made life at Shevington bearable. She had not expected they would give up their outdoor pursuits, to sit and keep her company. But now that the earl had turned them against her, they would go out of their way to avoid her. She would not see one friendly face, from one end of the day to the next.

When Cobbett arrived with the mail, she felt as though he had thrown her a lifeline. There were were still people who cared about her. Her aunt corresponded regularly, and Rick wrote when he had time. Letters from Gerry were rare, and tended to come in batches, depending on the vagaries of shipping. still people who cared about her. Her aunt corresponded regularly, and Rick wrote when he had time. Letters from Gerry were rare, and tended to come in batches, depending on the vagaries of shipping.

Today, only a single letter lay on the silver salver. She recognized the crabbed hand writing as that of her step brother Nick. It was with some surprise that she broke open the wafer. This was only the second time he had written since she had come to Shevington, and that had only been a polite little missive, in which he had expressed his gratification she had married so advantageously.

But the news he had for her this time dealt her such a blow, she did not know how she could bear it, coming as it did so swiftly behind everything else that had occurred that day.

Gerry was dead. Of a fever. Nick had written as soon as he received the news, but her step brother, it seemed, had already been dead for several weeks.

She could hardly take it in. How could Gerry be dead? She had sent him a letter only the day before!

She let Nick's letter drift to the carpet as the horrible truth sank in. Gerry would never read that last letter she had written to him. She would never see him again.

His life was over.

No more promotions. No more adventurous tales to enthral his little sister.

No more Gerry.

Eventually her eyes focussed on the opulent room in which she was sitting. Alone.

There was n.o.body with whom she could share her grief.

n.o.body who cared a rap about how she felt.

Though she had tried so hard to fit in. She had thought she was making some headway, but today she had learned just how little any of them cared about her. Today, they had all turned their backs on her, one after the other.

She had known she did not belong in the place, right from the very first moment she had set eyes on the outside of the buildings! Right from the first moment...her eyes lighted on the hideous vase squat ting on the low table by the fire place. She could not believe she had gone to such lengths to save such an ugly piece of porcelain. Or to have worked so hard to ingratiate herself with a set of people who had all let her down so badly.

Leaping to her feet, she picked up the vase that seemed to rep re sent all that was ugly about Shevington, raised it above her head and hurled it into the hearth with a wild cry of fury.

It shattered into dozens of pieces with are sounding crash that went some way to consoling her.

But it was not enough. Not nearly enough.

Gerry was dead. Buried in some far-off land. So far away she would never have a chance to so much as lay flowers on his grave.

Even if Monty and his father ever let her set foot outside the walls of Shevington Court again! For the earl had more or less threatened to keep her imprisoned here.

She could not stand it.

The walls felt as if they were closing in on her.

Tearing at the b.u.t.tons to her high-necked morning dress, she ran to the door and flung it open, half expecting to find a guard posted outside. It was almost an anticlimax to find n.o.body there.

She lifted her chin and strode along the corridor to the stairs. There was nothing wrong with going for a walk if she wanted! Just let anyone try and stop her!

With her fists clenched firmly, she marched right out of the front door. In spite of the earl threatening to set his staff to watch her every move, she did not en counter a single soul as she ran round the side of the house and across the neatly mown lawns. She was in such a state that she scarcely knew where she was going. It was only when the acrid scent of crushed cow parsley a.s.sailed her nostrils that she realized she had left the formal gardens altogether and was entering the fringes of the woodland. And only then did it occur to her that what she needed was to reach some spot from which the walls of Shevington would be completely in visible.

She plunged through the bracken, ducking under low branches and skirting bramble thickets, until she reached a hazel coppice. Only then did she tilt back her head and let out the scream that had been building inside her since...since...she doubled over with grief. It was all of it, coming together that had so shattered her. Not just the news of Gerry's death, but the earl's attack, the twins defection and Monty's un faithfulness, all coming so swiftly, one after another.

The clearing echoed with the panicked alarm calls of the flurry of birds which had risen en ma.s.se when she had screamed.

Then desolate silence descended through the still leafless branches.

Reminding her that she was on her own.

If only Rick were here...but he was not. His duties had carried him to a foreign land.

But even if he were here, things would never be the same between them. Not now that she had married his friend. She would never be able to confide in him completely. Not if her concerns related to Monty.

Now there was n.o.body, she gasped, not one soul to whom she could turn for comfort.

n.o.body who cared one way or the other...

Except... She went very still.

Stephen had followed her down here. He He wanted to see her. And he wanted to see her. And he was was her brother. She lifted her chin and threw back her shoulders. If there was a chance, no matter how slim, that this last communication from Stephen might lead to some form of reconciliation, then she had to take it. She her brother. She lifted her chin and threw back her shoulders. If there was a chance, no matter how slim, that this last communication from Stephen might lead to some form of reconciliation, then she had to take it. She needed needed to take it. She had only avoided meeting him up till now out of respect for Monty's wishes. But what did his good opinion matter to her now? to take it. She had only avoided meeting him up till now out of respect for Monty's wishes. But what did his good opinion matter to her now?

He had deceived her and abandoned her...oh, very well, not deceived her. Not on purpose. It was her own fault if she had a.s.sumed his kindness and forbearance meant anything.

But in the long run, she sniffed, it might have been better for her if he had not tried to be kind to her. At least then she might not have fallen in love with him. And then his haste to leave her to find a pretty mistress as compensation for doing his repulsive duty with her might not hurt so much that she no longer cared if Stephen did plan to harm her!

Wiping her nose on the long sleeve of her dress, she cast a quick glance about the coppice, then set off in the direction she believed Shevington village lay.

Chapter Eleven

Midge was breath less by the time she emerged from the belt of woodland that bordered the road, but pleased with herself for coming out not a quarter of a mile from Shevington Village. Even if she was a failure at everything else, there was no denying she had a good sense of direction!

It did not take long to find the inn, either, since Shevington was barely more than a handful of buildings cl.u.s.tered around the cross roads.

She grimaced at the inn sign, depicting a woman in Tudor dress, her severed head laying at her feet, then walked through an archway broad enough to admit mail coaches, into its bustling stable yard. From the crowd standing outside the office, and the two floors suggesting an abundance of rooms for hire, she deduced it held a strategic position on the routes between Dover and London.

She side stepped the queue, and went directly to the man presiding behind the bar in the public coffee room.

'Excuse me, but I believe you have a man staying here by the name of Stephen Hebden?'

The landlord gave her a withering look, which reminded her she was not wearing either a coat or bonnet. Her long-sleeved, high-necked gown had looked perfectly respectable when she had put it on that morning. But since then, she had torn open the top b.u.t.tons, wiped her nose on the sleeve, soaked the hem dashing through long gra.s.s, and scooped up a considerable amount of foliage on her headlong flight through dense woodland.

'n.o.body by that name here,' he said. 'Perhaps I'll do instead, darling.' He leered, leaning over the bar, his beery breath gusting into her face.

Midge drew herself up to her full height, knowing her only defence would be her att.i.tude.

'How dare you speak to me like that,' she snapped, imitating her aunt at her most frosty. 'The man I am looking for is my brother. He sent word that he needed to see me urgently.' She made a brief movement to indicate that very urgency ac counted for the state of her clothes.

The landlord's eyes narrowed. 'Don't s'pose by any chance this brother of yours has long, black hair and wears an earring? Looks like he could be a Gypsy?'

'Yes! That's him!' she cried. All that mud and leaves stuck to her skirts had done some good after all. She obviously looked like the kind of person who lived outdoors.

'Room four,' the barman said, 'up them stairs-' he jerked his head to a narrow stair case that rose from a corner of the bar '-and along the corridor to the end. And I hope you're going to be able to settle his shot,' he added sourly, 'if he sticks his spoon in the wall.'

She had not imagined Stephen could be that ill! Thank heaven she had come to him so soon after the twins had alerted her to his distress. Not, she admitted to herself guiltily, as she scurried across the bar and up the stairs, that it had been concern for him that had driven her here. But for whatever reason, she was here now, and she would do whatever she could to help.

She knocked gently on the last door at the end of the corridor, and when she got no reply, lifted the latch and tiptoed inside.

The curtains were drawn, making the chamber gloomy, but from the glimmer of light that spilled in over her shoulder from the pa.s.sage, she could make out the form of a man sprawled out on top of the bed.