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Chapter 32
Now you are a great heiress ; you are about to marry into one of the oldest families in Scotland ; you have a beautiful home , and you are not tied here for good ; you can go where you like for the other six months of the year . Any woman would be glad to marry Donald , even if there was not a fortune involved . I think you are lucky . Yes , reflected Lucy , she supposed she was .
And she ought to feel thrilled at the prospect of marriage with her cousin and being mistress of this old castle . Donald had been kind and had tried his best to put her at her ease ; he had shown that he would be a considerate husband , but for all that he had entirely failed to make an impression on her . He had seemed nebulous , characterless . She supposed that she was suffering from anti - climax ; that she needed a good rest .
Tomorrow or the next day she would be better able to judge both her surroundings and her new relations , and until then she would reserve her opinion .
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In Love With A Stranger Chapter 33
Early the next morning Margaret McGurtrie slipped ou of the castle and made her way across the rocks to the other side of the little island . On a fertile spot where clumps of pine trees grew , at the head of a tiny creek she met Maurice Tredego , who was standing idly throwing stones into the water and watching the widening circles they caused ' I thought you were never coming ! he exclaimed as she ran towards him . ' I overslept , ' she excused herself . ' I lay awake for hours and didn't get off till about two o'clock this morning Maurice , I feel utterly wretched ! She clung to him and raised her face to his , and after a moment's hesitation glancing round to make sure that they were quite unob served , he caught her close , and his mouth fastened down on hers . She hung limp in his grasp , utterly oblivious of everything and everyone save the man who was kissing her , as she had dreamed for weeks of being kissed . Then as the tension between them relaxed she opened her
In Love With A Stranger Chapter 34
My dear foolish Margaret , you don't know what you are talking about , ' he retorted . ' Managing up here means very little difference in your mode of life just going without a few things you fancy , that is all ; but managing in Sevila is a vastly different matter . We should have to get a house or a flat , and anything in a decent neighbour hood is wickedly expensive ; then you would be obliged to dress differently . These tweeds are all right in the country but they would never do for town . I should be expected to entertain it would be essential to know the right people . I make very little out of my profession nowadays , the public cannot afford to go to law , and my private income has shrunk . When the Exchequer has had its whack out of it there's precious little left , I can assure you . ' I wouldn't mind being poor with you . ' ' Oh , Meg , don't let us go over that again . He put her from him , and stooping picked up another stone and flung it into the water . We've
In Love With A Stranger Chapter 35
I shall be able to make a bargain with her , I think she can be to settle a decent sum on you , so be friendly with her Meg , and don't let her see that you resent her . ' Margaret's eyes filled with tears . I do resent her , ' she cried . Of course I do , I should not be human if I didn't . Uncle Peter ought to have left the money to Donald and me . I can't think why he didn't ' Probably just to cause trouble he was that kind of man , you know . But it's no good reviling him . We should be thankful that little Lucy is easy to manage - she might have been one of those precocious cockneys , with a very high opinion of herself , and then both you and Donald would have been pitied . As it is moulded into any form you wish . ' ' It's rotten for Donald , having to marry her . ' ' He might have had to marry someone worse , let me give you a tip , Meg , my sweet . If you are kind to the child , let her think that she is wanted , you'll be able to do anything you please with her . '
In Love With A Stranger Chapter 36
that would be a different matter altogether . The only way he could see her getting money was througn her little cousin . He had first started to make love to Margaret one week - end when he'd had to come to the castle on business connected with Sir Archibe's involved affairs ; he had been a very junior member of the firm then , and it had flattered him when he was asked to Kilrossan Castle and found that he was treated as a valued friend . His first impression of Margaret was of a great clumsy hoyden , ungainly in figure and in gait . Then that first evening she had come down in a gown with a long full skirt , hiding her feet and ankles , and giving her grace . He had looked into her lovely eyes , decided that there were possibilities about her ; and when she had suggested a stroll down by the creek he had taken it as a distinct invitation to make love to her After that it had been easy Margaret was avid for love ; she lived a very lonely retired life , since her father cou
In Love With A Stranger Chapter 37
and he could always be sure of having someone devoted to him . Margaret's frettings and strivings only irked him and it was a relief to leave her at Kilrossan and take a trip to Paris - and Elise . She never worried him ; she regarded marriage in the same light as he did . She loved her freedom . He never had to pretend with her or appear other than he was . She understood him as Margaret never could . But since Peter McGurtrie's death and the reading of his fantastic will , Maurice Tredego had changed his mind about marriage . If Margaret could be given a good allow ance he would make her his wife , since it would be to his advantage to be connected by marriage with Peter McGurtrie's heiress . The next best thing to being her husband . He was sure that he would soon wield a strong influence over Lucy, and he could gradually get all her affairs into his own hands . He did not fear that Donald would prevent him - those quiet scholarly men were rarely interested in money or ha
In Love With A Stranger Chapter 38
Lucy opened her eyes on a strange new world . At first she could not call to mind where she was , then as the mists of sleep gradually receded , and she saw the long windows with the curtains half drawn and the heavy black furniture she remembered her arrival at the castle yester day . Here she was at Kilrossan ensconced in the state guest chamber , and a broad red - faced Scots lassie was pulling back the curtains letting in the sunlight . Lucy sat up in bed . ' Good - mornin ' , m'leddy , ' said the girl giving an awk ward little bob . Your tea's on the table . ' " Thank you . ' Lucy turned to the table the girl indicated and found a cup and saucer of priceless china , a plate containing a couple of fingers of buttered toast , and a huge white china teapot , with milk jug and sugar basin which did not match . She guessed that in spite of the money Peter McGurtrie had given his brother and nephews , it was no sufficient to run Kilrossan as it should be run , and such things
In Love With A Stranger Chapter 39
She drank her tea , and then went to the bathroom feeling warmed and refreshed , returned to her room and dressed ; she was healthily hungry , and looking forward breakfast , very much more pleased with her surroundings and her new family than she had been the previo evening . How annoyed her aunt would be if she could sex her now ! Mr Tredego had told only the bare facts al Lucy 's inheritance , not mentioning the conditions of the will , and merely saying that he was taking her up nori to stay with relations , so that when Lucy returned to Sevila's Road to pack her few belongings , Mrs Lilian had been waiting for her . What a change in the woman in a few short hours ! She insisted on Lucy having a men before she left ; would come upstairs with her to help her pack ; fussed over and besought her to remembe that this was her true home . You must return to it whenever you want , ' she'd added ' I have been thinking for some time that you've growi too old f
In Love With A Stranger Chapter 40
Spotty - faced , argumentative Stanley , and conceit of himself . Why , he was not even a gentleman ! Lucy found her way along the bewildering corridors and down the broad staircase ; there were huge fires burning in the hall , and the dogs rose up from the hearth to greet her . As she stood hesitating on the bottom step the door of the library opened and Donald came out . " I've told you I'm not in to anyone this afternoon , Miss Patterson . Why will you not take my orders ? ' Maurice Tredego spoke in an irritable tone and moved the papers about on his desk in search of the one he wanted . There is never anything where I've left it ! he grumbled . ' Lord knows what the firm pays you for . " Peroxide - haired Miss Patterson went very red ; she would not take from anyone else what she took without protest from Mr Maurice , but it was unfair to blame her when he'd made all the disorder himself . Still , it was no good trying to point that out to him . I'm sorry , sir ,
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