Destiny's Path (33 page)

‘Are things that bad?’

‘I’m afraid so. There are creditors, some of them local tradesmen, who have been waiting only for your arrival to present their accounts and demand payment – usually long-overdue. And some of the servants’ wages haven’t been paid for a while.’

‘I had no idea it was so bad! How long has this been going on?’

‘For several years.’

‘Why did Hubert not say something?’

‘He believed he could retrieve the situation.’

‘The creditors must be paid first, of course, before I start any renovations.’

‘If you wish.’

When they’d gone through the figures and agreed on the next steps to be taken, Ronan prepared to take his leave. Mr Hatton held up one hand to stop him and cleared his throat before saying, ‘There is one way to re-establish your fortunes quickly and that is to marry an heiress.’

Ronan could feel his face go rigid. ‘I don’t think I can bring myself to do that, Mr Hatton. I am – er, in love with a young lady and we’ve spoken of marriage.’

‘Ah. May I ask if she brings any money to the match?’

‘A little, a thousand or two, I believe, and not all of it is immediately available.’

The lawyer looked at him scornfully. ‘That wouldn’t be nearly enough. You should give the matter of a suitable wife your serious consideration. Your first duty is to your family estate. As it happens, I am acquainted with a certain gentleman who has risen in the world and is anxious to establish his daughter among the gentry. I could introduce you and—’

Ronan shook his head. ‘No. I’m deeply in love and I just – couldn’t do that.’ He might not be able to marry Xanthe now – for how could he ask her to live in poverty while he struggled to build up the estate again? – but she had spoiled him for other women.

‘But you are not yet engaged to her?’

‘No. We agreed to wait until after I’d seen how things stood at Ardgullan.’

Mr Hatton shuffled the papers together. ‘You should, in all fairness to her, hold back until we see exactly how matters stand.’

When he got home, Ronan thought long and hard, then came to the conclusion that he must write to Xanthe, explaining the situation and offering to release her from any promises – if she considered they’d made promises to one another. He wasn’t even sure of that. Judging by the lawyer’s long face and head shaking, it might be years before he was even in a position to take a wife.

He could walk away from this unwanted inheritance and live perfectly comfortably on his own money, marry even, but his conscience wouldn’t let him do that. He was the landowner. People’s lives depended on him running Ardgullan efficiently. And if he had to plough his inheritance into it to save the estate, then he must do so.

But duty was a cold bedfellow.

A few days later Zachary came upstairs just after the shop opened, carrying a letter. He held it out to Xanthe. ‘This came for you in the post. I think it must be from Ronan. Who else could be writing to you from Ireland?’

She took the letter from him, nodding and smiling as she recognised the handwriting. ‘If you don’t mind, I’ll open it in my room.’

When she’d gone, Zachary and Pandora exchanged glances. ‘I hope it’s good news,’ she said softly. ‘She tries not to show it, but she’s fretting for him.’

In her bedroom Xanthe stared at the envelope, wondering if Ronan was going to be noble again and worry about making her happy? If so, she’d have to do something about it. It wasn’t in her nature just to wait around for someone else to decide what was good for her or what was bad.

Taking a deep breath and hoping for the best, she opened the envelope carefully, spreading the single sheet of paper out on her dressing table.

My dearest Xanthe

I’ve come home to find things in a very bad way, the money gone, the estate run down, debts piled up. I’m not even sure whether I’ll be able to keep Ardgullan once I’ve paid everything off
.

Therefore, with the deepest regret, I feel I can’t hold you to any promises. A man can’t marry if he hasn’t got a home to offer to his wife and family. You must consider yourself free to meet and marry someone else
.

My regret runs very deep but my duty is clear
.

With all my love

Ronan

She read the letter again, hearing his voice saying the words, sensing the anguish behind them. Then she sat down by the window, wondering what she was going to do.

One thing was certain. She wasn’t going to let him be noble about this and ruin both their lives. There was no other man for her, she was quite certain of that, and she knew he loved her. She needed to find out more details about his situation, work out if she’d be a help or a hindrance to him.

There was no getting away from it: she needed to see him, talk to him, get to know Ardgullan!

Once he’d sent the letter to Xanthe, Ronan spent a sleepless night before sending a message to Mr Hatton that given his circumstances he’d ended his connection with the young lady from Australia and for the sake of his family estate, would be interested in meeting suitable young women – though he didn’t wish to raise any false hopes and could promise nothing at this stage.

He received a letter back by return post, suggesting he come to Enniskillen and discuss Miss Georgina Johnson, daughter of a very rich, self-made man, who was a very amiable young lady.

Ronan wrote back quickly, before he could change his mind, to say he’d come the following day. Then he spent a sleepless night dreaming of Xanthe.

Was it fair to any young lady, he wondered, to marry when his heart was given to another?

When he arrived, he found to his surprise that Mr Hatton had already arranged a meeting.

‘You said “discuss”. Why are you trying to rush me into this?’

The lawyer looked a little uncomfortable. ‘Mr Johnson can be very – persuasive and he’s eager for his daughter to marry into the landed gentry. She’s been – difficult to persuade and has refused other offers.’

‘Then why should she consider me?’

‘I think her father is pressing her hard. And I must stress that she’s only considering you at the moment. So it would do no harm for you both to meet.’

Although it was a chilly day, after he’d left the lawyer’s rooms, Ronan went for a walk along the lough, ending up, as he always did, at the castle with its twin towers. Long ago the junior branch of his family had ruled from that castle. He smiled. He was from an even more junior branch of the Maguires, but still, the castle had been the inspiration for his boyish imagination. He’d dreamed of being a knight there, rescuing fair maidens and wielding a gleaming sword.

A troop of soldiers marched by from the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, on their way to the barracks. This was one of two regiments who took their name from the town and the sight of them brought him suddenly back to reality. He was no knight in shining armour, just a man struggling to save his family estate.

That afternoon he went to tea at the Johnsons’. He took an instant dislike to Mr Johnson, but was pleasantly surprised by his daughter. Georgina wasn’t beautiful but had a fresh, honest face.

Mr Johnson pulled out his pocket watch a few times and declared that he must return to his office. His sister-in-law, Miss Lawson, who was acting as chaperone to her niece, escorted him to the door, which left Ronan alone with Georgina for a few minutes.

‘You don’t really want to marry me, do you?’ she asked abruptly.

He was surprised by this question, but tried to answer it honestly. ‘I can’t afford to marry for love, but you can be sure that I’d respect you and treat you kindly.’

‘Which is more than my father does,’ she said bitterly. ‘I will – consider this seriously.’

He thought she looked deeply unhappy but before he could ask her to tell him why she was so reluctant to marry, her chaperone returned.

After a few more minutes Ronan took his leave.

He’d expected to dislike Georgina Johnson, but he didn’t.

It wasn’t the same as loving someone, though. Could he really bring himself to marry her?

Maia had never been so happy in her life. Nancy seemed to accept her new status. Maia was not only sleeping with Conn but spending the evenings with him in the small sitting room.

Sean and the other servants also treated Maia with as much respect as they always had.

And there was Conn, always Conn, smiling at her, dropping a kiss on her cheek as he passed, chatting to her in the evenings, loving her in bed.

Then she went to church that first Sunday. They’d planned to do this in the same way as they always had. She’d take her place with the other servants while Conn sat with the gentry. They were a little late but people were still chatting outside, something they did both before and after the service.

When Maia greeted a neighbour, the mother of one of the stable boys, the woman turned away without responding and one by one, other women did the same. She stood there feeling her cheeks burning at the thoroughness of the snub. Except for Livia and her sister, who had driven across to attend the service, all the women in the congregation had made it plain that they did not intend to associate with her any longer.

They knew!

She walked inside the barn with her sister, feeling wobbly and afraid.

‘What’s happened?’ Cassandra asked as they sat down. ‘Why are people treating you like a pariah?’

Face burning, Maia bent over her hymnbook. ‘I’ll tell you afterwards. Have you time to come and visit us for an hour or two?’

‘I’d rather not. Livia and Kathleen drove here with us and Livia doesn’t think it’d be good for Kathleen to go to Galway House.’

‘No. No, I suppose not. I hadn’t noticed that Kathleen was here.’

‘She’s outside talking to someone she considers “suitable”. I think she judges people only by their appearance and the way they speak.’

After the service Conn, who was looking angry, was held up at the front of the barn, so Maia and her sister walked outside and went to stand away from the others. Reece, after a glance at his wife, picked up little Sofia and went to chat to a man he knew.

‘Tell me what’s wrong?’ Cassandra asked again. ‘There must be some reason why people are treating you like this.’

Maia took a deep breath. ‘It’s because – I’ve become Conn’s mistress and – and people seem to have found out. I think the stable boy must have noticed and told his family. You should have seen how his mother looked at me!’

‘Oh, no! Maia, I can’t believe you’d do that. What would Father say?’

‘He’d be upset, but I love Conn so much. I’d do it all over again.’

He came up to join them just then, his cheekbones burning red with anger. He put one arm protectively round Maia’s shoulders and looked at Cassandra. ‘I’m sorry this has happened. But I promise you that no woman will ever be loved more than your sister. And once I’m free, I’ll marry her as soon as I can, willingly and happily, and to hell with class differences.’

Reece had followed Conn, also looking annoyed. ‘I hope you live to make good that promise, Largan. In the meantime, she’s the one who will suffer most, not you.’

There was a scream of outrage from across the yard and Conn whirled round, to see Kathleen storming towards them, fury making her face even uglier. He moved to stand between Maia and her.

When she’d tried and failed to push him aside, Kathleen screeched at the top of her voice, ‘Whore! She’s nothing but a whore!’ and everyone stared at them.

‘Stop it this minute!’ he said.

‘You protect
her
. But I’m your wife. I won’t have it. I won’t!’ Kathleen suddenly went mad, trying again to fight her way past Conn to attack Maia, so that it took the combined efforts of Reece, Conn and two other men to drag her back.

When Kathleen eventually gave up struggling she yelled at him as he dragged her towards Reece’s cart, ‘She’s all you deserve. A whore is good enough for a convict!’

Livia ventured forward and laid one hand on her arm, murmuring something. Kathleen quivered, looking as if she was going to erupt in anger again. Then suddenly the fight went out of her, her mouth trembled and she began to sob, as noisily as a child.

‘Come and sit in the cart. We’ll drive you home soon,’ Livia said gently.

‘It’s wrong!’ Kathleen said, repeating it again and again. ‘It’s wrong, isn’t it? Wrong. She should be whipped. She’s a whore.’

Reece went back to his wife while Conn kept an eye on Kathleen. ‘We brought them here so we’ll have to go. We don’t want her to start screeching again.’

‘No. I suppose not.’ Cassandra hugged her sister, tears in her eyes. ‘Will you be all right, Maia?’

She straightened her shoulders. ‘Of course I will. Conn will look after me.’ She gave Cassandra another hug. ‘I shan’t come to the monthly service again so we’ll have to find another way of meeting. I’ll be all right, truly I will. I’m quite safe with Conn.’

She waited alone, head held high, until he came back to her. The way he looked at her said he understood exactly how she was feeling, so when he offered his arm, she took it without a word and allowed him to escort her to the wagon, where Sean was waiting.