‘Well .?.?. did you speak to them?’ she asked instantly.
‘Yes, Dorcas, I did and I’m afraid things are even worse than you realise.’ He stared at her intently for a moment before going on, ‘There is no way I can help you out of this financially and so it seems that you will have to accept Mr Lansdown’s advice and sell the house – sell everything, actually – and if that isn’t enough to cover the debts, I shall have to help out with what is left owing. I cannot believe that you have been foolish enough to let it get to this stage!’
‘I didn’t know about the debts,’ she objected hotly.
He smirked. ‘Quite! No doubt you were too busy spending money to worry about how Gerald earned it.’
Panic gripped Dorcas and she began to pace up and down. ‘But Ican’tsell the house,’ she whimpered pathetically. ‘We shall be a laughing stock. And where shall we live? How will I pay for Abigail’s school fees?’ A thought occurred to her then and she rounded on him. ‘Father made a clause in his will that I would have a home at Crossroads Farm for as long as I needed it.’ There was a note of panic in her voice now and had Gerald been there at that moment she would happily have wrung his neck for putting her in such a position.
‘I’m quite aware of that,’ he answered coldly. ‘I have no intention of seeing you on the streets.’
‘Well, it would be Emerald and me there for most of the time,’ she pointed out. ‘Abigail is away at school for much of the year and next year we were planning to send her to a finishing school for young ladies in France.’
He laughed aloud as he raised his eyebrows. ‘You can’t seriously expect me to fund her schooling?’ He snorted with derision. ‘No, I’m afraid Abigail’s school days are well and truly over.’
Colour flooded into Dorcas’s cheeks as she clenched her fists. ‘But .?.?. but .?.?. she’ll behorrified!’
He shrugged. ‘Unfortunately, it can’t be helped. There will be no money for anything but essentials for you and the girls in the foreseeable future. We might be able to sneak enough furniture out of here to furnish the cottage for you before the bailiffs come in if we’re quick.’
‘What do you mean? Furnishwhatcottage? Surely we shall be living in the farm with you and Sybil?’
‘I don’t think you need me to tell you that that wouldn’t work in a month of Sundays. You and Sybil would be at each other’s throats in no time. No, we’ve talked about it and decided that you and the girls can move into one of the empty farm labourers’ cottages on the estate.’
‘Afarm labourer’scottage?’ Dorcas looked so horrified that she seemed in danger of bursting a blood vessel.
He nodded. ‘Yes. Admittedly it’s a little run down as it’s been standing empty for some time now, but I’ll get some of my men to fix the roof and then I’m sure you and the girls can make it habitable.’
With her head in a spin, Dorcas dropped heavily on to a chair feeling as if she were caught in the grip of a nightmare.
‘But in Father’s will he stipulated that I should have a home with you for as long as I liked,’ she choked out indignantly.
‘And that is exactly what I’m offering you. A cottage on the estate. Take it or leave it. Meanwhile I shall need to see Mr Lansdown again to set the wheels in motion for selling the house and the business.’ He made a little bow and grim-faced he left the room, banging the door resoundingly behind him.
Chapter Four
Bernard had been gone for no more than a few seconds when the door banged open again and Abigail appeared followed more slowly by Emmy.
‘What’s wrong with Uncle Bernard?’ Abigail questioned peevishly. She was still seething because she had missed her appointment with the seamstress. ‘He just strode past us in the hallway without even acknowledging us.’
Dorcas took a deep breath. At that moment all she wanted to do was run away and hide to lick her wounded pride but she supposed the girls would have to be told what was happening sooner or later so she may as well get it over with.
‘Sit down. I need to speak to you both.’
The girls took a seat on the small sofa opposite their mother and waited as Dorcas licked her lips. ‘I-I’m afraid I have very bad news for you,’ she began and Emmy instantly looked panic-stricken.
‘Is it something to do with Papa? Has something happened to him?’ she gasped worriedly.
‘Huh!It’s something to do with him all right, although as far as I know he’s well.’ Dorcas glared at the girl. ‘If you must know, he’s left us! In the lurch, as it happens.’
Both girls frowned with confusion but it was Abigail who asked, ‘What do you mean, Mama?’
‘I mean the business is in terrible trouble and your father owes money everywhere. We are going to have to sell everything we own, including the house, to try to cover his debts.’
‘What? But where shall we live?’
Dorcas had never made a secret of the fact that Abigail was her favourite child. It was probably because she was the prettier of the two, Emmy had always thought. She had a dimpled smile and an extrovert personality that could charm the birds off the trees. But tonight, Dorcas was too shocked and upset to give either of her daughters much time.
‘I have been discussing that with your uncle,’ she informed them, deliberately not mentioning the labourer’s cottage just yet. ‘And I shall know a little more about what’s happening when he has seen the solicitor again tomorrow.’
