Zipporah's Daughter (Knave of Hearts) Read Free

dead, but instead of marrying my mother he married her cousin Sabrina, then he was killed at Culloden. Sabrina had his child and that was Dickon. He was brought up by my grandmother and by Sabrina and they both doted on him. They still do. I have always thought that my mother believed her mother loved Dickon more than she did her … her own child. It’s a bit complicated, but do you see?’
    ‘I do.’
    ‘Therefore she hated Dickon.’
    ‘Isn’t there a stronger reason than that?’
    ‘Oh, reasons build up, don’t they? You only have to start by disliking people and then you can find all sorts of reasons why you should.’
    ‘I see you are something of a philosopher.’
    ‘You are laughing at me.’
    ‘On the contrary, I am overcome with admiration. If I smile it is because I am so happy that you should confide in me.’
    ‘I thought perhaps you might influence my mother.’
    ‘Tell me more.’
    ‘Dickon and I are in love.’
    ‘He is many years older than you.’
    ‘Only eleven. And people grow up.’
    ‘An indisputable fact.’
    ‘And when I am forty he will be fifty-one. We shall both be old then … so what does it matter?’
    ‘True, the gap lessens with the passing of the years, but alas, it is the present that we must consider. I think he has been a little premature with his proposal of marriage.’
    ‘Well, I don’t. Queens are betrothed in their cradles.’
    ‘True again, but often those betrothals come to nothing. In life one often has to wait and see. What do you want to do? Marry Dickon now … at your age!’
    ‘I suppose everyone would say I’m not old enough. But I would wait until I am fourteen, say.’
    ‘Still very young, and what is it … two or more years away?’
    I sighed. ‘We shall have to wait till then, and when I am fourteen nothing—just nothing—is going to stop me.’
    ‘Perhaps then no one will want to.’
    ‘Oh yes, my mother will. I tell you she hates Dickon. She says he wants Eversleigh, not me. Oh, you don’t know. But Eversleigh belongs to my mother. It was left to her, you see, and I am her only child therefore presumably it would come to me in time. That’s why, she says, Dickon wants to marry me.’
    ‘And you, what do you think?’
    ‘I know he wants Eversleigh. He is managing Clavering at the moment, but it is not nearly as big as this place. He says that when we are married he will come to Eversleigh. It is all very natural, isn’t it? He’s ambitious. I shouldn’t want him to be otherwise.’
    ‘And your mother thinks that, but for Eversleigh, he would not wish to marry you.’
    ‘That’s what she says.’
    ‘And,’ he added, looking at me quizzically, ‘there is no way of finding out.’
    ‘I don’t want to find out. Why shouldn’t he want Eversleigh? I know it has a part to play in his wanting me. How could it be otherwise? To like someone because they own a house is no different from liking someone because they have pretty hair or eyes.’
    ‘I think it might be considered rather different. The eyes and hair are part of a person … a house is not.’
    ‘Well, never mind about that. I am going to marry Dickon.’
    ‘And I can see that you are a young lady of great determination.’
    ‘I wish you could persuade my mother. After all … you are a member of the family now, aren’t you? As my father, you should have a say in the matter, though I warn you nobody’s say is going to have any effect on me.’
    ‘I can well believe that, and as an only recently recognized member of the family circle and one whose right to his daughter’s regard is as yet fragile, I would not venture to attempt to persuade her. I could only offer advice, and advice, as we know, even if we listen to it, is something we only take when it agrees with what we intend to do. So I will only say to you what I would to anyone with a problem and that is: wait and see what happens.’
    ‘How long?’
    ‘Until you are of an age to marry.’
    ‘And if it is really