A Country Gentleman by Ann Barker

least be a means of making his way in the world and also, as Rev’d Josiah Twizzle had admitted to himself somewhat guiltily, a way of removing from the vicarage a presence which the clergyman found very disturbing.
    When at last the vicar had accepted that this would not happen, he had given his son an ultimatum; he would continue to pay him an allowance until he was twenty-five. After that, young Mr Twizzle would be obliged to fend for himself.
    Benjamin had put these warnings to the back of his mind. It had therefore come as quite a surprise on his twenty-fifth birthday when his father, as a birthday gift, had presented him with a full year’s allowance. With it was a copy of the letter which he had sent to his bank, terminating the regular quarterly payment from then onward.
    The money itself had been very welcome, and Benjamin, thinking as usual only of the present, had simply seen that in his hand he had four times as much as usual. He had therefore set about spending it four times as quickly.
    Part of this spending had involved joining a select group who played cards together at one of the less salubrious establishments in Peterborough. The table had been presided over by one Cyrus Nightshade, who had been impressed by Benjamin’s well- turned-out person and apparently affluent circumstances. Carried away by the excitement of the game, Benjamin had signed numerous IOUs, and by the end of the evening, he had found himself owing a large sum of money that he had no way of paying. When he had first met Lavinia and Isobel, he had been attempting to hide from Mr Nightshade, whilst at the same time, trying to decide which of his relatives might be good for a trifling loan.
    The reason why he had been on the stage was that he had been visiting his eldest sister, who resided in Huntingdon with her husband, an impecunious army officer with a weakness for cards. Esther was the most sympathetic of his siblings, and he had been hoping that she would help him out, but to no avail.
    ‘We haven’t sixpence to scratch together,’ she had said frankly. ‘Tom is on half pay and I’m increasing again. And if you try to persuade Tom to gamble with you, I’ll skin you alive.’
    Vigorously denying any such intention, he had decided to setout for home and apply to his father. Asking any other of his siblings for money was simply not possible. One of his brothers was in the navy and at sea, whilst another was a curate living in lodgings. A third was serving in the army overseas, and a fourth was a tutor, escorting his charge around Europe on the Grand Tour. Another sister was married to the meanest man on the planet, whilst another was visiting her husband’s family somewhere in Scotland. Then just before he had left Esther’s house, she had scuppered his plans completely.
    ‘Father and Mother are visiting an old university friend of Father’s,’ she had told him. ‘Mother told me in her last letter that they would be away for some weeks.’
    This news had effectively cut off his last source of money. On hearing the name of Miss Isobel Macclesfield, however, he had felt an immediate surge of optimism, for he knew that she was a considerable heiress. He had not been able to decide how to make use of this knowledge to begin with, particularly since he was persona non grata at Thurlby Hall.
    Since making a strategic retreat from the inn yard of the George, therefore, he had resolved to drop in at the Horseshoe in Thurlby to find out what he could about the activities of his two travelling companions. He had been on one previous occasion, but had discovered nothing. This time, he could not believe his luck.
    He kept out of sight, and managed to hear what had been said. Knowing better than to approach the landlord himself, he beckoned to a waiter and gave the man a coin, after first making sure that the man could read.
    ‘Send me word whenever letters pass through this place either for or from Mrs Hedges,’ he said. ‘And tell me