LITMIR.BIZ

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sir. Master Muir told me about it and took me to see the vicar, who had witnessed the codicil. Reverend Winslow explained the ma—’

      ‘A damned nuisance,’ the earl said, glaring at her.

      ‘It is the law,’ Mr Cooper said with firmness. He looked at Mandy. ‘Lord Kelso has agreed to the hundred pounds.’

      She nodded, afraid to speak because she saw the warning in the kindly man’s eyes. In her mind, I should leave, warred with, I’m no coward.

      With a great show of ostentation, Lord Kelso rummaged on the desk and finally picked up the document right on top. ‘Pay close attention. “Lord Kelso, James Thomas Edwards Walthan, earl, agrees to pay Amanda Mathison, his daughter, one hundred pounds, at the rate of five pounds annually for the next twenty years, if she will come to Walthan Manor and petition for it.” Sign here.’

      Mandy’s mouth went dry. She swallowed and blinked back tears at the humiliation.

      ‘My lord, what did I ever do to you to deserve this?’ Her own words startled her, even as she started to rise, eager to leave the presence of a man who was no father at all.

      ‘Sit down!’ he shouted and slammed his hand on the desk, which only caused the inkwell to tip over. He stared at the spreading stain, his face as pale as milk, then changing to an unhealthy brick red.

      ‘I will not sign anything so humiliating. Good day to you.’

      Her eyes cloudy with tears, she turned towards the door, only to see Ben Muir standing there, Thomas Walthan looking over his shoulder, his mouth open. ‘Please move aside, Ben,’ she said.

      ‘No.’

      The sailing master’s eyes were mere slits and his cheeks alive with colour. ‘Lord Kelso, you are going to make this kind lady crawl to you each year for five pounds?’

      ‘The codicil does not say how I have to deliver her…inheritance.’ The earl spat out the word.

      ‘What…? Father, what is going on?’ the midshipman asked.

      ‘Oh, don’t…please don’t,’ she whispered to Ben, when the realisation dawned that her half-brother probably had no idea of their relationship, if he even knew who she was.

      Ben took her arm, even as she tried to pull away and get to that door that looked miles away. ‘Thomas, let me introduce your half-sister, Amanda Mathison.’

      ‘Please, no, Ben!’

      ‘You’re bamming me,’ Tom said and started to laugh.

      When no one else laughed, he stopped.

      ‘Your father married my mother over the anvil in Gretna Green,’ Mandy said, since there was no retreat now. She shook off Ben’s hand and moved closer to the door. ‘Your grandfather annulled it.’ She looked at her father, terrified at what she saw. His choler had been replaced by something worse—a cold stare that turned his eyes into specks of granite. ‘Believe me, Lord Kelso, I had nothing to do with any of this.’

      She couldn’t help herself in the face of her sudden anger, anger building over the years without her even aware of its breadth and depth. She pointed a finger at her chest. ‘I was the baby! None of this was my fault!’ She took quick strides to the desk and slammed her hands down, too, in perfect imitation of her father. ‘I wouldn’t take even a ha’pence from you now, you vile man. I hope you choke on your wealth.’

      She ran from the room, snatching up her cloak from the astonished footman and taking the front steps in one leap. She pounded along the lane. The wind had picked up, banishing the few leaves still clinging to the elms. The unfairness of the situation washed over her, drenching her with shame at actions not of her own making and sorrow for Thomas, of all people. He had no skill for mathematics and no interest in the career his father must have chosen for him. And now he had learned that he was brother to a woman who served people at Mandy’s Rose.

      With any luck, she could get all the way home before Ben came after her, as she knew he would. She ran across the field, taking a roundabout route that he didn’t know. You have made my life immeasurably more difficult, she thought. What told her that, she couldn’t have said, but she knew it.

      Mandy stopped, breathing hard, dreading what she would have to tell Aunt Sal. There wouldn’t be any little holiday to Brighton, as modest as it would have been. There would be no momentary easing of her dear aunt’s life of constant work. Maybe that was the lesson, she decided. Depend on no one, and for God’s sake, never count chickens before they are hatched.

      The sailing master had paid six shillings for three weeks. As little as she knew her father, Mandy knew he would not keep the sailing master near his son, even if it improved Tom’s chance of passing his lieutenancy exam. Ben would want some of his shillings back, before he returned to Plymouth, or wherever he had a mind to go. She couldn’t help the tears that filled her eyes.

      Mandy started walking, her chin up, the same way she had walked towards Walthan Manor. She slowed down even more, not eager to face her aunt. Her plans for a pleasant Christmas had evaporated. Whatever his motives—and she was not inclined to extend her surprising charity from Thomas to their father—Lord Kelso had reminded her of her own insignificance in cruel fashion.

      ‘What will happen now?’ she asked the geese high overhead, the last stragglers from the north of Scotland, bound for Spain or North Africa. ‘Take me with you, please.’

      ‘Can this nonsense possibly be true?’ Thomas asked, his eyes unpleasantly pop-eyed. ‘Really, Father.’

      ‘Yes, it’s true,’ Lord Kelso snapped. He looked at Mr Cooper, who returned his levelling gaze. ‘I made my offer and she has refused.’

      You really are a bastard, Ben thought, disgusted. ‘I am done here,’ he said quietly, appalled at the scene he had witnessed and full of sudden dread for Amanda, a woman he admired. Oh, hang it—the woman he loved. He doubted supremely that she would ever speak to him again. By blurting out Amanda’s relationship to Thomas, he had muddied the waters beyond repair. Only a foolish woman would take him now and he knew Amanda Mathison was not foolish.

      ‘I won’t pay you a pence,’ Lord Kelso said. ‘For all I know, it’s your fault that he cannot pass the stupid mathematics test! Why should this be a requirement, anyway? My son is Quality and you are less than nothing.’

      Ben heard Mr Cooper’s sudden intake of breath. There was far more at stake than his pride, however much the earl might wound it. The last thing Ben’s beloved navy needed was one more nincompoop with gold lace and epaulettes. He took a deep breath, trying to frame his thoughts carefully, because he knew every word out of his mouth would make Amanda’s life more difficult.

      ‘My lord, every midshipman must pass a test detailing his knowledge of navigation. He must also sit before a board of four captains or ranks above, who ask a series of questions, all for the good of the service.’ Ben spoke softly, even as he edged towards the door. Lord Kelso seemed a simple sort of spoiled man. Maybe out of sight, out of mind would ease Amanda’s way.

      But he couldn’t stop yet, not for the good of the service. He turned his attention to his unwilling pupil, who still needed to think about his own future. ‘Thomas, think this through.’ Ben hoped his words didn’t come across as bare pleading and then he didn’t care. ‘I have seen too many good men dead because of foolishness on the quarterdeck.’

      ‘How dare you?’ Lord Kelso stormed. ‘I will talk to the Lords Admiral about you! We’ll see how long you remain in the Royal Navy!’

      Ben shrugged, in no mood for another moment in such a poisonous place. No wonder Thomas was a weak excuse for a midshipman. He turned on his heel and left. He took his time gathering up his charts and navigation tools, certain that Amanda would be long gone.

      He was right. She was nowhere in sight. Ben walked down the lane, head bowed against the wind. On the way through the village, he stopped at the posting house and enquired about

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