Scandal at the Dower House by Marina Oliver Page B

reply she glanced up at him, eyebrows raised. He took a deep breath and turned away from her. When he spoke his voice was muffled and she had difficulty in hearing him.
    ‘We tried to send to you, but no one knew where you were. His lordship wrote to your aunt, he even set one of his friends who lives in Portugal on to try and find you.’
    Catarina slowly put down her knife and fork.
    ‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘What on earth has happened to cause such trouble to be taken?’
    ‘It’s Ellen, my lady.’
    ‘Ellen? My cook? Has she left? Is that all? Are you telling me you had to hire a new cook?’
    ‘No, we didn’t like to. Liza’s been doing the cooking for us while you’ve been away.’
    ‘Then what is the problem? We can soon hire someone else. I’ll write when I ask about a new maid to replace Rosa.’
    ‘It’s not just that, my lady. It was a terrible thing to happen. Ellen – she was killed, struck down.’
    Catarina stared at him. ‘Killed? Ellen? Oh, how terrible. What happened? Was it a carriage accident?’
    He shook his head. ‘It was Annie; you know her, Dan’s wife, him that worked for Mr Lewis. Dan, well, he was playing about with Ellen. Annie knew and came after Ellen with some sort of club. She killed her. Late one night, it was, and we didn’t find the poor lass till morning.’
    Sinking her head into her hands Catarina tried to take in the full, unexpected horror of it.
    ‘Poor Ellen! But what has happened to Annie?’
    ‘Transported, to New South Wales. Dan’s beside himself. He’s lost his job and his cottage since he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, work properly. Mr Lewis turned him off in the end, though he’d been sympathetic to begin with.’
    ‘Then what is he doing? Has he gone back to wherever he came from? He hasn’t family here, has he?’
    ‘He’s seen occasionally in the village, but no one knows where he’s living. He’s not gone back to Devon. It’s my belief he’s living rough in the woods. When I’ve seen him he looks worse than he ever did, unshaved, hair grown long, and his clothes not fit for a Christian to wear.’
    Catarina pushed away her plate. ‘I’m sorry, Staines, but I’ve no appetite. I can’t eat this.’
    ‘I shouldn’t have told you right away. It was stupid of me,’ the man said. ‘I should have waited.’
    ‘No, things like this can’t wait. But are there any other disasters I need to know of?’
     
    Two days later a letter came from Joanna.
    Catarina opened it in some trepidation. She felt as though any more bad news would be too much. But Joanna was clearly happy. She apologized for having run off without telling Catarina, ‘But I know you’d have stopped me, and I could notlet such an opportunity go.’ She had married Eduardo a few days into the voyage and he was a most considerate husband. ‘He doesn’t know about the baby, and he was so drunk on our wedding night he did not realize I was not a virgin.’
    Catarina felt embarrassed at the knowledge her sister displayed. Where had she obtained it? And had Joanna deliberately encouraged Eduardo to drink too much? Was she so calculating?
    She read on. Eduardo, it seemed, had known there was a baby in the apartment, for he had seen Clarice taking it for an airing. ‘But I told him it belonged to you, that your husband had died before it was born. It can’t do you any harm, Cat, for no one we knew there knows you in England.’
    Were there any lies Joanna would not tell if it suited her? Catarina felt a spurt of anger against her unprincipled sister, but unless this entire letter was lies, she was at least happy and someone else had the responsibility for her. She hoped Eduardo was a strong but tolerant man, though in some ways it might do Joanna good to be beaten occasionally.
    ‘I’ve written to Uncle Ivor, and so has Eduardo,’ Joanna went on. Catarina knew this was inevitable. She could soon expect a visit from her uncle and she dreaded the forthcoming confrontation. He