The Other Cathy Read Online Free Page B

forces?’
    ‘Yes, that would be pleasant,’ Emma murmured politely, and saw him frown at her obvious lack of enthusiasm.
    As she was showing Bernard out he paused at the front door and studied her face critically.
    ‘You’re looking somewhat tired today. Is caring for your cousin proving too arduous for you? I could easily advise Mr Hardaker that the time has come to engage a professional nurse.’
    ‘No, please don’t! I can manage perfectly well, and bringing in someone else would only alarm Cathy.’
    Bernard looked down at the tall black hat he held, fingering its silky brim absently.
    ‘Naturally, I have heard – I could not avoid it, going around the district as I do – of the true identity of the tenant of Oakroyd House. It must have come as a great shock to you.’
    ‘Please, I would rather not talk about it.’
    His hazel eyes, usually so open and candid, were clouded with distress on her behalf. ‘As you wish, Emma. I have no desire to pry.’
    ‘Goodbye, Bernard. I shall see you this evening.’
    Dismissed, he climbed into his waiting gig, gathering the reins in one hand and raising his hat with the other as he drove off. Emma did not close the front door at once, but stepped outside and down the portico steps to take a short turn in the shrubbery walk.
    The man she had declined to discuss with Bernard had not been out of her mind for an instant since Uncle Randolph’s revelation of yesterday. Sutcliffe – Matthew Sutcliffe, her father’s slayer. The man who, out of blind unreasoning hatred, had sought revenge for some imagined grievance and viciously struck her father down while he was alone at the mill one evening adjusting a new power loom. She had been only four years old at the time, yet with unbearable clarity she could remember hearing his name on everybody’s lips, her poor mother crying it out in agony; the servants whisper ing it behind their hands. Tried and found guilty of man slaughter, Matthew Sutcliffe had been sentenced to transport ation to a penal settlement for a term of fourteen years; which had seemed, then, the same as saying for all time. It was not envisaged that he would be heard of again.
    Now the man had returned to the Brackle Valley as the wealthy tenant of one of the grandest houses in the district. His own father, before his death many years ago, had been nothing higher than the overlooker at the mill; so how was it possible that Matthew Sutcliffe, a convicted felon, had ac quired a fortune and the trappings of a gentleman?
    The remembrance that she had smiled upon him, viewed him with approval – much more than mere approval, Emma bleakly acknowledged – made her wince with humiliation. Thank heaven her uncle had not been deceived as she and Aunt Chloe had been. Now that the truth was out, Matthew Sutcliffe would be shunned by every decent-minded person. He would soon find there was no place for him here. With an effort she buried her hurt and went indoors to find Cathy.
    Directly dinner was over on this special day all the servants were free to go to the funfair. The family was not putting in an appearance until early evening, after a plentiful supper of cold dressed meat, fresh herbs, fruits and sweetmeats that was set out on the sideboard. As soon as they had left the table and donned bonnets and gloves, Randolph settled the ladies in the wagonette, taking the reins himself. They passed through the deserted village, the iron-clad wheels echoing hollowly as they clattered over the cobblestones; everybody had gone to the fair, and even the beer houses were empty. But from the direction of Spinners’ Meadow came a drift of music and sounds of jollification.
    ‘How disgraceful!’ exclaimed Chloe, her face screwed up in disapproval. ‘It sounds as if they are well-nigh intoxicated already. It is high time the drinking booths were forbidden at these fairs.’
    Randolph glanced round at his sister with a chuckle. ‘Live and let live, woman! The fair does no harm,