Belle (The Daughters of Allamont Hall Book 2) Read Free Page B

glass in hand, with a sigh of contentment, Belle said, “Now then, Mr Plumphett, I trust you will not prevaricate with me. What do you know of this Jack Barnett?”
    “I will tell you all I know, although it is not much, I fear. The young person communicated with me some months ago, shortly after your father’s death, Miss Allamont. He wished to discuss your father’s will, and some provisions therein. Naturally, knowing nothing of him, I refused. He wrote again, in stronger terms. I again refused. I then had a letter from another person previously unknown to me, a Mrs Maud Barnett, asking me to call at the foundling home for children in Brinchester to discuss the will. You are aware of this establishment, Miss Allamont?”
    “Yes. It was a favourite charitable project of Papa’s. He visited every week, without fail, and left a considerable bequest to the home in his will. I do not quite see—”
    “No, indeed,” he said quickly. “How should you? Harrumph.” A sip of Madeira. “So, to continue, I did not like to be ordered about in that way, and particularly by a person quite unknown to me, and not, I surmised from the style of the letter, having had the benefit of the best education. However, the foundling home does indeed have an interest in the will, so I deemed it appropriate to present myself at the appointed hour. Imagine my surprise to discover the house to be in one of the better districts of Brinchester.” Another, longer, draught of Madeira.
    “You had not visited before?”
    “By no means. All communication had been by letter, and although I knew the direction, the street name meant nothing to me, since I had never been in that part of Brinchester before. It is, however, a most respectable looking property in a quiet quarter of the town. I was admitted by the butler, and—”
    “A butler! In a foundling home!” Belle could hardly credit what she was hearing. “Mr Plumphett, I am not familiar with any foundling homes, but the very concept of a charitable institution would bely the employment of a butler.”
    “Quite so, Miss Allamont. Quite so.” He drank the last drops of Madeira and set the glass down on a side table with a regretful sigh. “My astonishment on the occasion was at least the equal of your own, I do assure you. Everything about the place differed markedly from my expectation. If I had known nothing else about it, and judged solely on appearances, I would have deemed it a very proper place for Mrs Plumphett to pay a call or to dine. I was received by Mrs Barnett, who is herself perhaps not of the first quality, but everything about her, and the house also, was fitted up in some style.”
    “But who is she? And what has happened to the foundling children?”
    Mr Plumphett paused to mop his brow, although it was not a warm day, and the fire had not yet been lit. “Miss Allamont, you have asked me not to prevaricate, and therefore I will tell you the whole of it, although I fear it will shock you greatly. I do not like to speak ill of your late papa, but I fear… I greatly fear that…”
    And here poor Mr Plumphett ground to a halt, quite unable to go further.
    Belle found it difficult to speak herself, but the words needed to be said and the matter brought into the open. “Am I to take it that this Mrs Barnett, if indeed she is a married woman, is a person of… of loose morals? And this Jack Barnett is her son? And the home for foundling children…” She took a deep breath. “The home for foundling children was a fabrication, to conceal Papa’s visits to his… to his… What would you call her, Mr Plumphett? I do not know the proper word.”
    “It is best that you do not, Miss Allamont.”
    Harlot. That was the word that sprang unbidden to Belle’s mind. She was not quite sure if that was the correct term, but it occurred numerous times in the Bible. Even the thought of it made her blush.
    Quickly, she said, “Does Mama know any of this?”
    “I do not know. I have