Pauper's Gold (42 page)

But as she’d watched him stand up to his formidable father, she realized that he was indeed prepared to give up everything for his love for her. The realization humbled her. And suddenly,
without warning, she felt an overwhelming affection for him. She hugged him harder. He chuckled softly. ‘Hey, what’s this?’ he asked, surprised but delighted.

She raised her face to look up at him and there were tears in her eyes.

‘Oh, Anna, don’t cry.’ Gently, he smoothed away her tears with his forefinger. ‘Please don’t cry. It’ll be all right.’

‘Oh, Adam, I’m sorry – I’m so sorry if I’ve hurt you, I didn’t mean that to happen. Please – believe me . . .’ He couldn’t know the full
meaning behind her gabbled words as he kissed her gently. His kisses became more urgent and he had begun to draw her towards the bed when a knock came at the door.

With a click of impatience he released her and opened the door. The manservant stood there. ‘Mrs Childs wonders if you’d like something to eat, master Adam. You and . . . er . . .
Mrs Critchlow.’

Adam beamed at him – more because of the butler’s acknowledgement of Anna as his wife than for the food he was offering. ‘Thank you, Beamish, that’d be
wonderful.’

The man, though always conscious of his position, leaned forward and smiled conspiratorially. ‘I expect you’d prefer a tray up here, sir?’

‘Thank you, Beamish. That’s most thoughtful of you.’

The hours passed. They ate, made love and slept wrapped in each other’s arms in the bed that had been Adam’s since boyhood.

It was only now that she was here in his home that Hannah realized just how little she knew of the man she’d married. Apart from the fact that he had been away at school when she had lived
here before, she knew nothing about his life. She had believed he would be another Critchlow: selfish, self-centred and with a cruel steak.

She was beginning to see that the truth might be very different.

Night came and there was still no summons from Edmund. A light supper was brought to them on a tray and a maid brought hot water to their room. At midnight they climbed into bed but now sleep
eluded them and they both lay awake staring into the darkness and listening to the creaking of the old house. They fell into a restless sleep in the early hours and woke late to a knock on the
door.

‘Breakfast is served in the dining room, sir, and the master asks that you both should join him.’

‘Right, Beamish, thank you.’

‘Very good, sir. The maid will bring hot water for you both in a moment.’ The butler gave a little bow and Adam closed the door and turned towards Hannah, who was still lying in the
bed.

‘There! You see? I was right. He wants us to join him for breakfast. He’s coming round. I said he would. Come on, darling. Let’s get dressed quickly and go down.’

‘Oh, Adam, you go. I . . . I can’t face him.’

Her reluctance was genuine, though Adam couldn’t know the real reason. He thought she was just afraid of his father’s temper, whilst the truth was that she was feeling the first
stirrings of regret that she’d ever entered upon such a game of revenge. She certainly wished she’d not involved Adam. She wished now that she’d found some other way.

‘Oh, please come down, Anna. We must face him together. I’ll be with you. I won’t leave you alone with him, I promise.’ His face was so boyishly appealing that she
couldn’t hold out against him any longer. All her resolve, all her single-minded desire for revenge was melting away beneath Adam’s charm and his genuine love for her.

What have I done?
she asked herself silently.
Oh, what have I done?
But it was too late now – she had to carry on. As they descended the stairs hand in hand a few minutes
later, she found herself praying the very opposite to what she had planned and schemed for weeks and months.

She was now hoping that Edmund Critchlow would not recognize her.

He was sitting at the end of the long table. When they entered the dining room, he waved them to their places, one on either side of him. There was no welcoming smile. He
didn’t speak, not even to wish them good morning.

For him, Hannah knew, it was anything but a good morning.

The three of them ate in silence, though Hannah could hardly be said to be eating. She picked at the food set before her by a solicitous Beamish and kept her eyes downcast.

As the meal came to an end, Edmund rose and spoke for the first time. ‘Adam, you will oblige me by joining me in my study.’ As they both made to rise from the table and follow him,
Edmund barked, ‘Not you. I wish to speak to my son alone.’

Hannah sank back into her chair as Edmund marched from the room. Adam came around the table to kiss her. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll stand up to him.’

She touched his hand and smiled weakly at him. ‘Good luck,’ she whispered, and was surprised to find that she really meant it.

When the study door across the hall closed, Hannah went back upstairs to Adam’s bedroom. She couldn’t think of it as ‘theirs’ for she doubted it ever would be. Sitting on
the window seat overlooking the steep drop down the cliff to the river below, Hannah leaned her forehead against the cool pane and sighed. They’d all tried to warn her: Auntie Bessie, Nell,
the Grundys, Ted – even Daniel. But she hadn’t listened. She’d been hell-bent on avenging the innocent life that Edmund had taken. She lifted her eyes and looked up above the
river to the hillside opposite. She could see the narrow path that she and Luke had walked. And in her fanciful imagination, she could see herself and Luke – two youngsters walking along the
path on a bright, sunlit day, hand in hand. So young, so innocent, so in love. A cloud hid the sun and the vision faded. She could no longer recall Luke’s face clearly nor hear his voice in
her head. Her memories of him were no longer so vivid. A tiny corner of her heart would always belong to him – her first love. But now, there was someone else who was pushing his way into her
heart and her mind. Adam.

She chewed on her lip, wondering what was happening in the study. Had Edmund recognized her? Was he, at this very minute, telling Adam just who she was? And if so, what would Adam’s
reaction be? Would he love her still – or hate her?

It seemed an age before she heard footsteps in the passageway outside. Slowly, Hannah rose to her feet. Her heart was doing painful somersaults inside her chest as the bedroom door opened and
Adam came in. He looked pale and drawn, but he was smiling.

He opened his arms to her and she ran across the room to him. She hardly dared to ask, yet she had to know. ‘What happened?’

Adam took a deep shuddering breath and his voice was unsteady. ‘He’s disowning me. He’s going to change his will and cut me out. I can work in the mill but I’m no longer
to regard myself as his son. I’m to be an ordinary worker.’

Hannah gasped. It was not what she had expected at all. She couldn’t believe that Edmund would cast his one and only legitimate son aside in such a callous manner, no matter what
he’d done. She’d fully expected that he’d get rid of her. Have the marriage annulled, have her sent back to the workhouse – anything to break them up. But he’d keep
his son. Oh yes, he’d keep his son close.

Her mind was working quickly. No, she didn’t believe what Adam was telling her. Edmund was doing this only to teach Adam a lesson. It was his way of bringing his young pup to heel.

‘And what about me? Am I to work in the mill?’

‘He . . . he didn’t mention you.’

‘Not at all? Didn’t he tell you to . . . to end it? To send me away?’

Adam looked uncomfortable. ‘Well, yes, but I refused. That was when he came up with the alternative. I can work here, but that’s all.’

Hannah shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t think it’s all by any means,’ she said quietly. ‘He’ll have other plans. He . . . he’ll be up to something to get
rid of me.’

Adam held her close. ‘Oh, darling, don’t think that. You make him sound an ogre. He’s stern and strict with his employees – I know that – but he’s not so bad.
He’ll come around. I know he will.’ His eyes sparkled as he looked down at her. ‘And if we give him a grandson – you’ll see. I’ll be restored to the family fold
– and you along with me.’

Hannah stared at him, amazed at his naivety. He didn’t know his father at all.

Edmund Critchlow would stop at nothing to rid himself of an unwanted daughter-in-law.

There was only one thing she could do that might yet save Adam. The very thing that she’d planned all along, but now it was with a very different purpose in mind. It was not only to exact
her revenge upon Edmund, but now it was to save Adam too. She’d have to reveal her true identity herself. She’d do nothing yet, she decided. She’d bide her time and wait and see
what happened.
But
, she thought,
I still have a trump card to play – if I have to.

Her mind was spinning and she heard Adam’s plans with only half an ear. ‘We’ll live in the apprentice house and take in lodgers. I know we don’t have the orphans any more
but we still get single young men and women coming to work at the mill and needing lodgings. You could do that, darling. Run it as a lodging house, couldn’t you? There’d be no need for
you to work in the mill any more. And when the family comes along . . .’

Adam was full of ideas, happily planning their future and confident that, in time, his father would come around.

Oh, how little you know of him
, Hannah thought.

It was eerie to walk back into the apprentice house. So many ghosts lingered in the rooms. She could almost hear their voices: the Bramwells, Nell – and now Luke too. She fancied she could
hear his laughter, teasing her. Calling up to her from below the window of the punishment room. Hannah shivered.

‘I know it’s cold and damp,’ Adam said, throwing open all the doors and going from room to room, dragging Hannah in his wake. ‘But we’ll soon have it cleaned and
warmed through. Perhaps some of the girls from the mill would help . . . Oh!’ He stopped and his face fell. ‘I was forgetting,’ he murmured. ‘I’m no longer the
owner’s son. I can’t ask for help.’

‘You could still ask,’ Hannah said.

‘I could, I suppose,’ Adam said doubtfully, ‘but I couldn’t arrange for them to be paid, could I?’

‘No,’ Hannah said. ‘No, I suppose not, unless . . .’

‘Unless what?’

‘How do you get on with Mr Roper?’

‘Roper?’ Adam was puzzled. ‘Well, all right, but . . .’ His face cleared. ‘Oh, I see what you’re getting at. Roper could arrange their pay.’

‘Mmm.’

Adam shook his head. ‘He wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t do anything that would go directly against my father’s wishes.’

Hannah said nothing. She was not so sure.

It was high time she had a word with Mr Roper herself. There were one or two matters that needed to be sorted out.

A week later, when Hannah heard that Edmund would be away on business for a few days, she crossed the yard and climbed the stone steps to the offices. She’d not been inside the mill since
her marriage, but she knew the news would have travelled through the mill like a raging fire.

Josiah Roper was, as ever, sitting at his desk. As she opened the door and marched in, he looked up and smiled his thin, humourless smile as he saw who it was.

‘Ah, the new Mrs Critchlow,’ he said sarcastically. He laid down his pen and turned to face her. ‘And to what do I owe this honour?’

Hannah smiled brightly at him. ‘I’ve come to ask a favour, Mr Roper.’

‘A favour? From me?’

‘If Adam were to ask one or two of the girls to help clean out the apprentice house, would you arrange for them to be paid?’

For the first time that she could remember, Hannah saw surprise on Josiah’s face. ‘Arrange for them . . . to be paid?’ he spluttered. ‘For . . . for helping
you?’

‘Yes, Mr Roper.’

He stared at her and shook his head wonderingly. ‘You’ve got some nerve, I’ll say that for you. I always did admire your spirit. Grudgingly, of course.’

Hannah’s smile widened. ‘Of course.’

There was silence as they stared at each other. ‘And how would you suggest that I justify such an action to Mr Edmund?’

Hannah put her head on one side. ‘He’s going away, isn’t he?’

‘Yes,’ Josiah said slowly.

‘And whilst he’s away, you’ll be in charge?’

‘Mm.’

‘Have you been told – officially, for I’m sure you will have heard the gossip – that Master Adam is no longer to be treated as son and heir?’

Josiah raised his eyebrows. ‘Mr Edmund told me that his son’s allowance was to be stopped. That he is to become an ordinary worker in the mill and treated as such.’ He paused
and then his beady eyes gleamed. ‘But he said nothing about disinheriting him.’ He was thoughtful for a moment before saying slowly, ‘He didn’t tell me that I was no longer
to take instructions from his son – especially,’ he added with emphasis, ‘in his absence.’

‘You’re not afraid it’ll cause trouble for you on Mr Edmund’s return?’

His smile twisted wryly. ‘I’ve never been afraid of Edmund Critchlow. Oh, I pander to him. To his every whim,’ he added bitterly. ‘And I expect I’m a laughing stock
amongst the workers, but you see, Mrs Critchlow,’ for some strange reason he seemed to delight in repeating her new-found title, ‘I know exactly what I’m doing and why I’m
doing it. And Mr Edmund trusts me. Trusts me implicitly. I’m the keeper of his secrets, you see.’ He nodded meaningfully at her. ‘I’m a very good keeper of secrets, Mrs
Critchlow.’

‘So – you’ll do it?’

He turned back to his desk, dismissing her. ‘Tell Master Adam to let me know the details of the young women involved and how much he wishes them to be paid.’

For a moment, Hannah stared at his hunched back. He was a complex, devious and mysterious character. She couldn’t pretend to understand him.

When she told Adam what she had done, he put his arms about her. ‘We’ll make a great team, you and I. It’s going to be all right. We’re going to be so happy and
everything will work out. I know it will.’

If only I could be as sure
, Hannah thought.