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“Wait!” she said. She couldn't just let him walk out of her life like this, not when she had felt such a potent connection with him. “My father isn't here, he's gone on a journey to source cheaper materials from England, but he'll be back in five days. If you return then, we might be able to help you. I can try to convince him to buy your dress.”
Robert's eyes sparkled with hope.
“Do you think he would?”
“Yes... I do,” she lied, knowing that her father would not be interested at all. Still, she had to do something to keep this man from just walking out of her life.
And then, from out of nowhere, she had a sudden impulse of curiosity.
“Tell me one more thing, Robert,” she said, her eyes burning with a keen and sudden inquisitiveness, “which nobleman lent you the money to buy more horses?”
Robert looked surprised at the question, but he answered nonetheless.
“Why, that was Lord MacNally,” he answered.
Susan gasped with surprise, and a number of gears and cogs started whirring in her mind.
“We need to talk,” she blurted out. “I may be able to help you in more ways than just buying that dress from you.”
“How so?”
“Can you come here tomorrow night? I'll close up the shop at six o'clock. We can talk in private then.”
Robert nodded.
“Alright. I can do that. I'll see you tomorrow evening then,” he said with a smile as he turned and walked out.
Susan's heart pounded as she thought about the possibilities of what had happened here; Lord MacNally, she knew was a conniving, greedy liar who was always desperate to expand the area of his territory. And Lord MacNally's best friend was... Seamas McSwiggan.
CHAPTER 2
Robert trudged wearily back to the inn where he was staying, keeping his eyes on the cobbled streets as he walked. In his pockets a few coins jingled; proceeds from what he had sold today. However, despite now having sold almost everything he owned – aside from his former fiancée’s dress, which he was hanging onto in the hope that Susan could help him, as she had said she would, he still had almost nothing to his name. He shook his head and sighed as the same thoughts ran through his head again and again. If he had just done one thing differently, just one thing... he wouldn't be here, selling everything and scrounging money like some sort of hobo or vagrant.
God, if I had just kept that sack of gold and slept on it, the robber wouldn't have been able to take it from me – he'd have had to wake me up, and fight me for that money. And by God I would have showed that scoundrel a thing or two. But... But I didn't. I left the sack of gold on my kitchen table. After all, nobody had ever stolen anything from me before, and I locked the door just in case. But the windows! God, why didn't I close the upstairs windows! Well... Because I didn't think anyone would have been able to climb that high. But if I had locked those upstairs windows, I'd still have that gold, and my stud farm would have been making a lot of money now. I'd be a wealthy man instead of a destitute vagrant, having to hand over the land that's been in my family for five generations, and the house that my great grandfather built with his own hands, to that dastardly Lord MacNally.
Still, there's a silver lining to every cloud – even one as dark as this. That girl at the dressmaker’s shop, Susan... I couldn't take my eyes off her earlier! Something about her just cut to my very core. It was as if she could see into the center of my being, and I into hers. I'm sure she was looking at me the same way I was looking at her. I could feel it! As sure as the wolf can sense the heart beating in the body of his prey in the darkness of the forest at night, I could feel her heart beating to the same rhythm as mine.
But... What could I even do about it? I'm as poor as a pauper now, landless, and I owe a debt I have no hope of repaying. I've lost everything. What sort of a life would she have with a man like me? No decent sort of a life at all. It would be cruel and selfish to pursue her, even if she does feel the same way about me. There'd be no future for her with me – evidently I'm cursed, and to bring her into it would be to visit the same curse upon her.
Robert looked up and saw that he had reached the inn. He paused to look up and down the street, and then stepped inside. The ground floor was a tavern, and as darkness began to fall, a number of people started filtering in off the streets. A few were already inside, lined up at the bar and ordering drinks.
