39

When Charles arrived back in Hammersmith next morning, Sophie led him into the parlour and asked him to sit down.

‘I’ve been thinking about all you told me yesterday,’ she said, ‘and we need to talk. But first I have to tell you something else about Nicholas and you have to promise to listen and say nothing, no interruptions, until I’ve finished. Can you do that?’

Charles smiled at her earnest face and said, ‘Yes, I should think so. What’s on your mind?’

What was on her mind? Everything. She had hardly slept as everything she had heard the previous day churned around in her head. How could Nicholas have proposed to her when he was already married? He must have counted on the fact that no one would ever discover that he already had a wife, and why should they? This Dolly lived in London and if Nicholas had left her and moved to Cornwall, it was unlikely that she would learn that he’d got married again.

If we had married, Sophie thought, Nicholas would have been betraying both of us. Me and Dolly. How could he? He’d said he loved me and all the time he was married to someone else.

Tears of misery and rage filled her eyes and her throat ached with wanting to cry, but she would not. She would not cry for someone who had told her nothing but lies! He was a liar and a deceiver and she’d never forgive him!

And was Hannah right about his motives for coming to Port Felec in the first place? She was right that he could have expected nothing from Thomas Penvarrow. He was not the man to welcome a bastard grandson into the family. But if Nicholas had no ulterior motive, surely he wouldn’t have denied it so violently when she’d taxed him with being Jocelyn’s son.

All Nan had told her whirled round in her head, forcing her to accept that Nicholas had been quite happy to deceive her and had intended to go on doing so. Has a right temper on him, Nan had said. You don’t want to cross him or he’ll make you pay. And Sophie remembered the marks of his fingers when he’d gripped her wrist, angry that she had ridden alone with Charles. Yes, Nicholas had a temper, but she had excused it because she loved him.

She lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, seeing the dark familiar shapes of her bedroom furniture, the shadows cast by the street lamp beyond her window. She closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep, but her brain wouldn’t relax, couldn’t relax, and it wasn’t until the first grey fingers of a false dawn crept into the eastern sky that she finally drifted off into a fitful doze, bedevilled with muddled dreams of Nicholas, Nan, her mother, her grandfather.

She awoke pale and unrefreshed when Hannah brought her tea in the morning, but as she slept her decision had been made. She would tell Charles everything.

Now, sitting by the fire in the parlour, she did just that. She told him everything from the moment when she had broken into Jocelyn’s room and found the letters, to the last time she had seen Nan Slater and been told that Nicholas Bryan was Jocelyn’s illegitimate son. She left out no detail, including Nicholas’s reaction when she had faced him with what she had learned from the letters and from Nan.

‘He denied it completely,’ Sophie said, ‘and he was angry, so angry. Nan had warned me that he had a temper, but that was the first time I had really seen it.’

Charles, good as his word, listened to her without interruption, but his expression was a mixture of incredulity and anger. When Sophie at last lapsed into silence, he said quietly, ‘Is that it?’

‘Isn’t it enough?’ cried Sophie.

‘More than enough,’ Charles said. ‘And when we add it to what else we’ve found out about him, it takes on an even more serious aspect.’ He shook his head reproachfully. ‘Sophie, why on earth didn’t you tell us what you’d discovered? About Jocelyn, I mean?’

‘Aunt Matty made it clear that I was never to mention Jocelyn or ask any questions about him. She said his death had been an accident when they actually thought he’d committed suicide. Having read those letters, Charles, I am quite sure it wasn’t suicide. Jocelyn was planning to marry his Cassie as soon as he was of age. But if I’d told anyone what I had found out, I’d have had to admit breaking into Jocelyn’s room and everyone would have been furious with me.’

Charles gave a grim smile. ‘You’re right there.’

‘So I said nothing. I thought it was better to leave things as they were. It’s only since I found out that Nicholas is their child that I’ve told anyone. Hannah thinks he’s taking some sort of revenge by marrying me,’ Sophie went on. ‘Using me to get his own back on the Penvarrows. Getting his hands on Trescadinnick.’

‘Hannah’s almost certainly right,’ Charles said. ‘And the only person who might have stopped you marrying him was our grandfather.’

‘And he died.’

‘And he died.’

‘Well, I shan’t be marrying him, shall I? Not now we know he’s already married. So he won’t get his revenge, if that was really what he was after, and he won’t get Trescadinnick.’ She thought for a moment and then asked, ‘Are you going back to Trescadinnick today?’

‘Yes,’ replied Charles. ‘I have to. I’m catching the late-morning train to Truro.’

‘Then I’m coming with you,’ announced Sophie. ‘I need to face Nicholas with this and the sooner I do, the better.’

‘But not on your own,’ said Charles. ‘He’s a man with a temper.’

‘I told you, I’m not afraid of him.’

‘Maybe not,’ Charles said. ‘But there’s no knowing how he’ll react and no point in taking chances.’

‘If I see him at Trescadinnick, with other people in the house...?’ suggested Sophie.

‘If you see him in the drawing room and I’m in my study,’ Charles said reluctantly, ‘I suppose you can come to no harm.’

Before they left for the station Charles wrote an account of everything Sophie had told him and sent it to Mr Staunton. ‘I think it best if we have this account kept safe,’ he wrote.

...and perhaps Hawke can make further enquiries based on this information. It strikes me that it is possible that Bryan may have had a hand in two deaths, that of my grandfather, Thomas Penvarrow, and possibly also that of Nan Slater who was found dead of cold in her backyard soon after Sophie had told Bryan what she had learned from her. I have made no suggestion of these thoughts to Sophie and I doubt anyway there would be any way of proving that Bryan had a hand in either death, but I am concerned for Sophie’s safety. I think Bryan will be a man bent on revenge.

When they arrived at Trescadinnick, late that evening, Sophie went straight up to her room, exhausted. As he had promised, Charles said nothing of their discoveries about Nicholas Bryan to anyone else. They had agreed that Sophie would send a note to Nicholas to say she was back at Trescadinnick and then wait for his visit. Until she had challenged Nicholas about his marriage to Dolly, there would be no mention of Sophie breaking off the engagement, and even then no reason would be given, simply change of heart.

Next day Ned was dispatched with a note, and he returned with a message saying Dr Bryan would call that afternoon. Sophie spent the morning with AliceAnne, helping her with her schoolwork, trying to keep all thoughts of the impending interview with Nicholas out of her mind, but it was impossible, and several times AliceAnne had to recall her attention to what they were supposed to be doing.

At the midday meal Sophie ate almost nothing, causing Louisa to ask, ‘Are you not well, Sophie? You’re very pale and you’ve eaten nothing.’

Sophie managed to smile and answer, ‘No, Aunt, thank you. I am quite well, just a little tired after the journey yesterday.’

‘Well, your Aunt Matty is coming over this evening, so I hope you’ll look a bit brighter for her.’ Turning to Charles, she said, ‘What are you doing this afternoon, Charles? I have nothing planned and I wondered if you could take me to see this house you’ve found. Matty’s sure to ask about it when she gets here.’

‘I’m sorry, Mama,’ Charles replied, ‘but I shall be working in my office this afternoon. I have several letters to write.’

‘Surely they can wait until tomorrow,’ said his mother. ‘I particularly wanted to go today.’

But Charles was adamant. ‘No, I’m sorry, Mama, but if you would like to go tomorrow, I shall be happy to take you... and Aunt Matty too, if you like.’

Louisa subsided into disgruntled silence and as soon as possible, Sophie excused herself and left the table. Charles found her in the drawing room, pacing the floor as she waited for Nicholas to arrive.

‘Don’t close the door completely,’ he said, ‘and my door will be open. Call me if you need me.’ To her surprise he bent forward and kissing her lightly on the cheek said, ‘Be careful, cousin,’ before returning to his study.

Sophie stared after him, her fingers going to the place where his lips had touched her cheek, before giving herself a shake and going to the window to watch for Nicholas.

It was not long before she saw his gig coming up the drive and she found her heart was pounding in her chest. The time had come to confront him with his duplicity, and suddenly she wasn’t ready. She saw him get out of the gig and hitch the reins to a fence post.

It was a cold, bright day and the sun struck golden lights in his fair hair. As he turned for the house she could see his face, as handsome as ever, and for a moment she saw him as she had seen him that first day, a good-looking young man whose admiration for her had been apparent in his eyes. Was that a lie too? she wondered bitterly.

She heard the knock on the front door and Edith coming to let him in and take his coat. She heard Charles’s voice as he wished him good afternoon, and then saying, ‘I think you’ll find Sophie in the drawing room.’

The door opened and Nicholas strode in, a broad smile on his face. ‘Sophie,’ he cried, his hands outstretched to her. ‘You’re home. How I’ve missed you, my darling girl.’

‘Have you, Nicholas?’ she replied, her hands firmly by her side. ‘And do you miss Dolly when you’re away from her?’

Nicholas stopped in his tracks, his face rigid with shock, before he said, sounding confused, ‘Who?’

‘Dolly, your wife.’ There, it was done. ‘You forgot to tell me about her, Nicholas. Or were you going to let me into the secret when we were married?’

‘Sophie, my dearest—’

‘But I’m not your dearest, am I, Nicholas? You have a wife and surely she is your dearest.’

‘Sophie, please, you’ve got it all wrong. Let me explain—’

‘Explain how you forgot you were married?’

‘Explain about Dolly.’

‘All right.’ Sophie sat down in an armchair and then wished she hadn’t as Nicholas came towards her, towering over her. But she raised her chin and looked him in the eye. ‘Explain about Dolly.’

‘Listen,’ Nicholas said, ‘I don’t know where you heard about Dolly, but you’ve got it all wrong. I do know a Dolly, in London. I met her and her family while I was training at St Thomas’s. We became friends and for a while, I have to admit to my shame that I lived with her as man and wife. I was young and impressionable. Dolly was young and sweet. I know it was wrong, but we were only together for a few weeks and then she met someone else. I know it was wrong,’ he repeated, ‘but I promise you there was never any question of marriage. I was a poor student. I couldn’t afford to get married.’

‘So the record of your marriage with Dolly at St John’s Church, Waterloo, on 6th January 1883 is wrong, is it?’

Nicholas, taken aback at her knowledge of this information, thought fast. Shaking his head, he said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sophie. Really. Maybe Dolly married someone else,’ he suggested. ‘Our life together was long over by then.’

Sophie suddenly got to her feet, making Nicholas take a step back. ‘Nicholas Bryan, you are a liar,’ she declared, her voice icy. ‘You lie about everything. I know who you are and you know it, but you still lie. You’re married to this Dolly, we both know it, but you still deny it.’ She tugged the engagement ring off her finger and placed it on the table. ‘I can’t marry you, Nicholas, because you are already married and there is written proof, but I wouldn’t marry you even if you weren’t. You are a liar and you have lied to me from the start. You told me you loved me and I believed you—’

‘But, Sophie, I do love you—’

‘Stop it!’ Sophie cried. ‘Stop it. You don’t! All you ever wanted was Trescadinnick. Why else did you come here in the first place?’

Nicholas made a grab for her hands, gripping her wrists so tightly that she couldn’t break free.

‘Sophie, listen to me—’

‘Let me go!’ she shrieked. ‘Let me go! Just get out of here! I never want to see you again.’

At the sound of her cries Charles erupted into the room and swung his fist full into Nicholas’s face. Nicholas let go of Sophie as he staggered back, blood streaming from his nose.

‘I think you were just leaving,’ Charles said through gritted teeth.

‘I am, but don’t think this is the last you’ll see of me. You’ll regret this,’ Nicholas warned, ‘all of you. I won’t be made a laughingstock.’

‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Sophie retorted. ‘I won’t be spreading your grubby little secrets. You can simply let it be known that I’ve changed my mind and I’m not going to marry you after all.’

‘Now get out,’ growled Charles.

Nicholas gave him a look of pure loathing. And with one hand holding a handkerchief to his nose, with the other he snatched up the engagement ring and stormed out of the house.

‘Are you all right, Sophie?’ Charles asked anxiously. ‘He didn’t hurt you?’

‘No,’ Sophie replied a little shakily. ‘But thank you for coming so fast. I’m so glad you were there.’

‘So am I,’ Charles said, looking ruefully at his split knuckles, before adding with a smile, ‘but Nicholas isn’t!’

Later that afternoon Sophie again took Hannah into her confidence and told her what had happened. Hannah looked distressed at what she heard. ‘Oh, Miss Sophie, I wish you’d let Mr Charles deal with him.’

‘That might have been even worse,’ Sophie said. ‘If Charles had confronted him, Nicholas would still have come to me. It was better that it came from me and I told him straight out. Anyway,’ she went on, ‘he won’t be coming back. My cousin and I have decided to tell no one what we have learned about him. There is no need to open up old wounds and it would even now invite unwanted scandal for the family over something that happened long ago.’

‘Don’t worry, Miss Sophie,’ Hannah promised. ‘I’ll be as silent as the grave.’

That evening, as they sat at dinner, Sophie told her aunts that she had broken off her engagement to Dr Bryan. ‘I felt I was being rushed into it,’ she said, ‘and I don’t think we’re suited after all.’

‘Hhm! Thank goodness you’ve come to your senses,’ retorted Louisa.

‘I think it’s a sensible decision, my dear,’ was all Matty said.

‘And now we shan’t have to move to that pokey little house at Kenwyn after all,’ Louisa went on.

‘That is something we shall have to discuss with Sophie,’ Charles said, giving his mother a quelling look, ‘and not over the dinner table.’

‘No discussion necessary,’ Sophie said at once. ‘There’s no need for any of you to move. I hope you’ll stay here at Trescadinnick for the foreseeable future.’

‘And will you live here too?’ asked Matty.

‘I certainly will for now,’ Sophie said. ‘Things will be as they always have been.’

She’d made that decision earlier when talking with Hannah. ‘I don’t want him to think that he’s frightened me away, Hannah. We may go back to London from time to time, you and I, but we shall stay here for a while now. Will you mind?’

Hannah had smiled and said that she didn’t mind at all.