A Fallen Woman Read Free

the whispers that must
still echo from the past, without the ruined Miss Sheridan coming
along to cast a blight on things.
    ‘I
remained at home with Liza and Papa and had a wonderful time. You
know how pleasant Thorncroft is in the summer. Indeed, if it were
not for Liza’s madcap antics – must I remind you of the sad story
of the ornamental fish pond? – then it would have been practically
blissful.’
    Charlotte
smiled reluctantly. ‘Well, Papa was certainly very glad that you
remained here. I swear, sometimes you are the only one Liza listens
to.’
    ‘Only on
my better days. And she listens to Mama if Mama puts on her Voice.’
Margaret Sheridan was the most placid of parents but one knew one
had exceeded her reservoir of tolerance when she used The Voice. It
could stop any of her children in their tracks, even James and
George who were settled with their own families and households.
Rachel reached out to take her sister’s hand. ‘For heaven’s sake,
do not worry about me beloved. Focus on the future, just as I do.
You and Adam will have a wonderful life together. It’s plain to see
that he loves you very much.’
    ‘And I love him,’ Charlotte murmured. She hesitated for a moment, then
said with obvious reluctance. ‘I had a letter from Adam this
morning.’
    ‘ Now there’s a surprise! I’m only amazed it wasn’t two.’ Adam
had proved to be a frequent correspondent while he was away from
his affianced.
    Charlotte
did not smile. ‘He made a request that he bring along his best
friend to stand beside him.’
    Rachel
looked at her sister inquiringly. ‘I think that’s an excellent
idea. Even the best of men do find marriage daunting, I
believe.’
    ‘Yes, but
you haven’t heard who his friend is,’ Charlotte said doubtfully.
‘Worsley is coming. Apparently they were very close for a long
time. Well I knew that they were, of course, for he has told me so
but the earl has been away for so long that his name did not come
up very much. Their houses are quite close in Warwickshire, I think
and they played together a great deal as boys.’
    Rachel was surprised. She had not been aware of this piece of news. ‘Worsley has come back
from the Continent at last?’
    ‘Indeed.
Is it all right, Rachel? It is a last minute arrangement but of
course I am delighted to have a friend of Adam’s come along. I told
Mama when I heard, of course and she said that Worsley had once
been a suitor of yours.’
    Rachel gave a
small grimace. ‘So he was. But it was a long time ago.’
    ‘ Sometimes,’ Charlotte observed with some asperity, ‘you make
three years sound like thirty.’
    ‘It
sometimes feels like thirty.’ Or like it was only
yesterday…
    Charlotte
sighed. ‘Adam told me that the earl’s return has caused quite a
stir. He has been absent for so long. He also said that Worsley’s
mother is vastly relieved. She has been poorly and she was
beginning to think he would not come back to see her before she
died.’
    ‘ Good heavens! Is she so very sick, then?’
    Charlotte
grimaced. ‘It is difficult to say. Adam says that she has been
sickly for twenty-five years and this may be just another
installment of a continuing saga.’
    ‘Oh, a
malingerer. Still, I suppose she must be delighted that he has
returned as he has been gone for such a long time,’ Rachel said
ruefully.
    ‘Does it
seem odd that he has been gone for so long?’ Charlotte inquired. ‘A
man in his position… I would have thought that he would not have
been able to absent himself for three years.’
    ‘I am
sure he had his reasons.’ Rachel murmured, giving the skirts of the
dress a shake. She hoped that those reasons did not include her.
She had more than enough reasons to regret the past and an absent
peer was not something she wished to add to the list of her sins.
‘You may step down from there, happy in the knowledge that your
height and the hem have remained exactly the same.’
    Charlotte stepped down. She was silent