Madcap Miss Read Free Page A

have only to get back home to Lewes, a mere ten miles. I ’ ll see you onto the next stage. ”
    “ I have no money! ” she sniffled.
    “ I ’ ll look after it. Peculiar your governess left. Was she not expecting you? ”
    She shook her head in a negative. Speech was beyond her. Whewett continued, “ Your mama should have made sure you were to be met, but there ’ s no great harm after all. Come now, wipe your eyes, and I ’ ll take you back to the inn to see when the next coach leaves. ”
    “ I can ’ t go back there, ” she managed to say, trying to sniff away her tears.
    “ Where, to the inn? ”
    “ No, to Lewes. I have no mother there. ”
    Whewett sat dumbfounded. “ Where is she? ” he demanded.
    “ Dead, ” she answered on a fresh burst of tears.
    “ Did you just learn of it? ” he asked, wondering how it could have happened in such an irregular fashion. The mother must have died in childbirth. He remembered some talk of Miss Jones wanting a brother. “ You can go back to your papa. ”
    “ He ’ s dead, too. I am an orphan. ”
    “ Good God! ” Whewett felt a stab of pity for the poor little creature. “ But my dear, you cannot stay here. Who are your family solicitors? Some relatives will come for you. ”
    “ Oh, you don ’ t understand, ” she said, wiping her eyes with her knuckles till he stuffed his handkerchief into her fingers. She looked at his kindly, concerned face and decided on the spot she would tell him the truth. He might lend her some money to tide her over till she could find Miss Thomas.
    “ No, I don ’ t understand, but I wish you will explain. I ’ ll help you, ” he promised.
    Grace lifted her moist eyes and looked at him hopefully. “ The thing is, I am not Miss Jones at all. I am Miss Farnsworth, and I am twenty-two years old, ” she said.
    Whewett remained perfectly impassive, except for a slight widening of his gray eyes and the lifting of one well-arched brow. He studied her young face, her hair chucked up in girlish curls, her roll-brimmed hat, and her freckles. “ I begin to think you are a minx, Miss Whoever-You-Are. Now, let us hear the truth, if you please, without benefit of a Cheltenham tragedy. Have you run away from school? Is that it? ”
    Her chin lifted pugnaciously, which only increased the air of youthful rebellion. “ School is closed in August. ”
    “ You have peeled away from home in any case, or I miss my bet. You have run yourself to a standstill, so there is no need of a lecture. I wager you are ready to go home and face the music. ”
    “ I told you, I have no home, ” she said, becoming impatient.
    For ten minutes she spoke on, explaining in detail her predicament. Her voice, no longer pitched childishly high, her vocabulary, her whole conduct, soon convinced him of the truth. “ This is almost worse than your first story, ” he said, sinking his chin in his hands to look at her in astonishment.
    “ I know that! The question is, what am I to do? ” Her voice held a note of desperation.
    Whewett continued studying her, silently now. The idea that had just cropped into his head was so outr é , he could hardly believe it had even occurred to him. He was not a gentleman who routinely involved himself in drama of any sort. The even tenor of his days was seldom disturbed by anything more interesting than politics or domestic doings.
    Yet, as he considered it, he found his scheme not only possible but fairly easy to execute. Miss Farnsworth passed very well for a young girl, and what he needed at that moment was a girl of the age she appeared. “ Come with me, ” he said.
    Grace blinked in surprise. “ To Willowcrest? ”
    “ Yes, I need you. ”
    “ What on earth for? ”
    “ To be my daughter. ”
    An air of withdrawal settled on her. “ You already have a daughter, ” she pointed out stiffly.
    “ I don ’ t have her here. ”
    “ What has that to do with it? ”
    “ A great deal. Let me explain. Lady Healy was my