Daughters of Rebecca by Iris Gower Page B

true.
    â€˜It’s so hard for the farmers,’ Shanni said quietly. ‘They sometimes have to pay three tolls to pass along a mile of road and it’s ruining them.’
    â€˜I’m just a little tired of hearing about the lot of the poor,’ Llinos said, in a hard voice. ‘I was poor once and I worked my own way out of it. I faced great hardships when I was your age, and I had enough spirit not to let it dishearten me.’
    â€˜But you are well educated, Mrs Mainwaring. Your father was a captain in the army. He was respected and well known for his cleverness and his bravery. You were never of the lower orders.’ She paused. ‘I was, and it’s a pit with sheer sides, too difficult to get out of.’
    â€˜I do believe you’re turning into a poet, Shanni,’ Llinos said, forcing a tone of lightness into her voice. She took a deep breath. ‘I agree with what you say. I had all the advantages you talk about, but they vanished into thin air and I had to work until my fingers were raw.’
    She looked down at her hands, soft and white now, showing no evidence of how she had worked the clay. ‘I had to grow up fast, to manage a business that was falling apart. It takes more than education and more than an accident of birth to make a success out of chaos.’
    â€˜I think you are wonderful to have done all that.’ There was genuine admiration in Shanni’s voice and a little of Llinos’s tension vanished.
    â€˜Come, let me hear you play. Let’s see if Madame Isabelle is deserving of the money I pay her.’ There was an edge of sarcasm in Llinos’s voice that was not lost on Shanni, but she sat obediently at the piano and placed her fingers on the keys.
    Eynon stared at his daughter and smiled. She was turning into a beautiful young lady. She looked nothing like her dead mother – now that her features were maturing she favoured him more. It was a pleasing thought.
    â€˜So you are going out with Lloyd Mainwaring today, then, are you?’ He took Jayne’s hand and held it lightly. ‘I think you youngsters spend far too much time away from your studies. In my day we had to work hard at our lessons.’ He grimaced, thinking how old-fashioned he must sound.
    He rested his hand on the girl’s shoulder. ‘I hope you don’t bowl Lloyd over with your beauty. Poor lad wouldn’t stand a chance against your wiles.’
    â€˜Father, you might just be a little biased, don’t you think?’ Jayne asked.
    â€˜No, I don’t. Come here.’ He held her in his arms and kissed her silky, sweet-smelling hair. ‘You are a lovely-looking girl with a fine education and a rich dowry to offer. Any man would jump at the chance of getting you for a wife.’
    â€˜You are jesting with me, aren’t you, Father? I have no intention of marrying anyone for several years yet.’ She drew away and stretched her arms above her head. ‘I want to be free to enjoy myself.I want to be presented at Court – you know that’s what Grandmother would have wanted for me.’
    â€˜We’ll see about that, Jayne, but I do not want you living in London. It’s a racy place and your grandmother had some strange friends.’
    Jayne smiled. ‘I know. Wasn’t she a courtesan to a royal personage at one time?’
    â€˜That’s just idle gossip.’ Eynon looked at his daughter, whose eye held a wicked gleam. He realized suddenly that she also had a will of her own. No-one would deceive Jayne Morton-Edwards: she was far too sharp.
    The sound of carriage wheels crunched along the gravel outside the house and Jayne looked up expectantly. ‘That will be Lloyd,’ she said easily.
    Eynon followed her into the hall where the maid was already holding out a warm coat and a thick scarf. Jayne scarcely looked at the girl, and Eynon shook his head; his daughter had grown up to expect a privileged