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‘Go and tell your master Lord Bolsover is here to view the property.’
Jane was taken aback. Why did the man want to view the property? Surely Mr Halliday had not sent him? She walked downstairs in as stately and calm a manner as she could manage, though inside she was quaking. He saw her and stood watching her descend. Not until she reached the bottom did she speak. ‘Lord Bolsover, good afternoon.’
He bowed. ‘Miss Cavenhurst, I hope I see you well?’
‘Very well, thank you. Why are you here?’
‘I will tell your father that when he deigns to put in an appearance.’
‘I expect someone has gone to fetch him. He may be on the estate somewhere. Will you come into the withdrawing room to wait for him?’
‘Very well, but I hope he won’t be long.’
She led the way and offered him a chair. ‘If you had warned us you were coming, we would have been expecting you.’
He laughed suddenly. ‘I doubt it. You would all have gone into hiding.’
‘We have nothing to hide, Lord Bolsover.’
‘No? The fact that Greystone Manor was up for sale? That was an underhand thing to do.’
‘What did you expect my father to do? He has debts to pay as you very well know.’
‘I doubt the sale will cover them. How much is he asking? Ten thousand, I believe. It is overpriced by at least three thousand.’
‘How do you know the figure?’
He smiled. ‘I have my sources. I know Sir Edward’s debts to the last penny, I know your brother’s debts and I know how much Sir Edward hopes to obtain from the sale. Unless my arithmetic is faulty, the figures do not add up.’
She pretended indifference, but could not quell the feeling of despair that overwhelmed her. Was he right?
Her father arrived and saved her from having to answer. ‘Papa,’ she said, ‘this is Lord Bolsover. My lord, Sir Edward Cavenhurst.’
Her father ignored Bolsover’s outstretched hand and stood facing him. ‘What do you want?’ he demanded. ‘Why are you here? My wife is unwell and your presence will upset her. Please leave.’
‘I will when I’m done. I wish to see over the premises.’
‘Why?’ Jane demanded. ‘You are surely not thinking of buying?’
‘I do not need to, do I?’ He was addressing Sir Edward. ‘Your debt to me easily covers the price you have put on the estate, which I am told is far above its true market value. You haven’t been able to sell, have you?’
‘There is plenty of time.’
‘No, Sir Edward, there is no time at all. I am calling in the debt immediately.’
Jane gasped and her father turned deathly pale. ‘Why? Why are you doing this to us? We have done nothing to harm you.’
‘Ah, but there you are wrong.’ He smiled suddenly, a smile that sent a chill into Jane’s veins. ‘I need a home and I think Greystone Manor will serve me very well, but I need to look round to see if it covers the eight thousand pounds owed to me.’
‘I do not owe anything like that much,’ Sir Edward said.
‘You do if you add your son’s debts to yours and there is the interest being added every day at ten per cent. So, will you show me round, or shall I wander about on my own?’
‘Jane will accompany you. I must go to my wife.’ He scuttled away, leaving Jane facing Lord Bolsover.
‘Shall we go?’ she said, leading the way.
She took him from room to room, downstairs and upstairs, avoiding her mother’s boudoir where the murmur of voices could be heard through the closed door. Then they returned downstairs and she led him through the kitchen to the stable yard and the outbuildings, which he inspected. ‘That’s the house and immediate outbuildings,’ she said when that was done. ‘There is a park of three hundred acres, some woodland, three farms with farmhouses and the usual buildings, and some farm cottages. If you want to see those, I suggest you hire a hack and ride round on your own, but I trust you have seen enough.’
‘I was right,’ he said, laughing at her sharp tone. ‘You are the only one of the family with any fire. I like that.’
‘I wish I knew why you were so intent on ruining us.’
‘Soon, if all goes well, I shall tell you. Now I wish to speak to Sir Edward again.’
She preceded him back to the drawing room where she left him while she went in search of her father. He was with her mother and Isabel.
‘Has he gone?’ her mother asked.
