Part 7 (1/2)
For a moment, Em stared. Then she snorted.
”Doesn't surprise me. That Cora was ever out for her Own gain.”
”When I was sixteen, they arranged a marriage with another mill-owner, a Mr Ogleby.”
”Ugh!” Heather looked up from her soup to shudder artistically.
”He was a horrible old toad,” she blithely informed Em.
”Luckily, my father heard about it-- Lucinda used to come and give me lessons. So he married Lucinda instead.” Having done her bit for the conversation, Heather returned to her soup.
Lucinda smiled affectionately.
”Indeed, Charles was my saviour. I only recently learned that he bought off my relatives in order to marry me--he never told me.” Em snorted approvingly.
”Glad to hear they've some gentlemen in those parts. So you became Mrs Babbacombe and lived at ... the Grange, was it?”
”That's right.” Heather had finally relinquished the soup; Lucinda paused to serve herself from the platter of turbot Fergus offered.
”To all appearances Charles was a well-to-do gentleman of moderate estate.
In reality, however, he owned a considerable collection of inns up and down the country. He was really very wealthy but preferred a quiet existence~ He was close to fifty when we married. As I grew older, he taught me all about his investments and how to manage them. He was ill for some years--the end was a relief when it came-but because of his foresight, I was able to handle most of the work for him.”
Lucinda looked up to find her hostess stating at her. ”Who owns the inns now?” Em asked.
Lucinda smiled.
”We do--Heather and I. The Grange, of course, went to Charles's nephew, Mortimer Babbacombe, but Charles's private fortune wasn't part of the entail.”
Em sat back and regarded her with frank approval. ”And that's why you're here--you own an inn in Newmarket?”
Lucinda nodded.
”After the will was read, Mortimer asked us to vacate the Grange within the week.”
”The blackguard!” Em glared.
”What sort of a way is that to treat a grieving widow?”
”Well,” Lucinda held up a hand.
”I did offer to leave as soon as he wished--although I hadn't thought he'd be in such a hurry. He'd never even visited before--not really.”
”So you found yourselves out on your ears in the snow?” Em was incensed.
Heather giggled.
”It really turned out most fortuitously in the end.”
”Indeed.” Lucinda nodded, pus.h.i.+ng her plate away. ”With nothing organised, we decided to remove to one of our inns--one a little way away from the Grange, a place we weren't known. Once there, I realised the inn was far more prosperous than I would have guessed from the accounts our agent had recently presented. Mr Scrugthorpe was a new man-Charles had been forced to appoint a new agent a few months before he died when our old Mr Matthews pa.s.sed on.” Luc'lnda frowned at the trifle Fergus placed before her.