Page 59 of Debtor’s Daughter

Connie clutched at her hand but seemed incapable of tearing her gaze away from Cecil, which was hardly to be wondered at.

“That night we were supposed to elope,” Cecil said, his attention focused entirely on Connie. “Your father caught me before I could get to you. His men knocked me out cold, and the next I knew I was on a ship, bound for India.”

“India!” Connie exclaimed, horrified. “Oh, Papa! How could he do such a wicked thing?”

Cecil shrugged. “I weren’t good enough for you, love. I knew it, and he knew it too and didn’t like it any. In his position, I might have done the same thing.”

“But India!” Connie wailed. “And he t-told me you were dead!” she said, dissolving into tears. Cecil surged to his feet, looking as if he would gather Connie into his arms, but a warning glance from Maggie held him in place and he sat awkwardly.

“Don’t cry, love,” he begged. “You know I can’t bear to see you cry.”

Gallantly, Connie pulled herself together, blowing her nose noisily on a dainty lace-edged handkerchief before facing him again with dignity. “Do carry on,” she said calmly.

Cecil nodded and took a large swallow of his brandy. “Well, I was put ashore without a penny to my name and no clue of how to get one. India is like nothing you’ve ever seen or could imagine, love. The heat is like living before the open door of a furnace, and the rain in the monsoon season is enough to make you believe the good lord is trying to wash the land off the face of the earth. Well, I can tell you I was buggere—that is, I was without a feather to fly with and totally at a loss. Heartbroken for you and what you must be thinking of me, homesick and scared to death. For a few months I barely survived and almost succumbed to lie down and die. But that would mean the old bastard had won, and I couldn’t endure that. So I determined I would find my way back to you somehow, and not only that, I’d be a powerful man with blunt enough that he could not turn me away out of hand.”

Maggie looked around at their magnificent surroundings and smiled. “It seems you succeeded.”

He grinned at that, and Maggie saw in that smile everything that Connie had ever said about her lost love, his charm, his kindness and amiability, his love of fun and his sense of the ridiculous. Despite her lingering suspicion, she could not help but warm to this bluff, candid fellow and believe he truly loved her aunt still.

“I had a bit of luck,” he agreed modestly. “But I don’t want to give you the impression I’ve been living the high life all this time, Connie, love. The truth is I scraped a living for years and I lost heart. I knew a beautiful woman like you would have been snapped up long since and I believed I’d lost my chance at happiness. So, until four years ago, I was still just an ordinary fellow, working all hours to make his way until I had the biggest stroke of good fortune. An old English fellow I’d been friends with for years knew his time was up. Well, I’d had the chance to do him a few good turns on occasion, and seeing as he had no family, when he passed on, he left me his business. It was a decent business too, but being a bit long in the tooth, the fellow had failed to see how it might be expanded.”

“What nature of business, might I ask?” Mr Weston cut in, for which Maggie was grateful, having wanted to know the same thing.

“Ah, nothing nefarious,” Cecil replied, wagging a meaty finger at Mr Weston but looking at him approvingly. “I don’t hold with transporting slaves, nor opium, nor anything of that nature, so you can rest easy. I do some general trading, and dabble a bit in precious stones, but fine textiles are my line. John Company can’t get enough of the stuff.”

“John Company?” Caro asked Maggie in an undertone.

“The East India Company.” Maggie explained, before turning her attention to Cecil. “And so you are still in trade?” she asked politely, careful how she spoke for fear of him hearing condemnation in the words.

“No,” he said, his eyes twinkling with satisfaction. “John Company made me an offer for the business, and though I weren’t daft enough to let them have it for the measly price they offered, I secured a very advantageous deal with them that meant I’m a disgustingly wealthy man. Then, as if all my dreams had come true at once I read about your brother dying in the scandal sheets and it referred to you as Miss Constance Merrivale. Well, you can’t imagine the joy I felt in reading that Connie love. The ink on that contract wasn’t even dry before I was on my way here, coming home to find my darling and give her everything I ever dreamed I might. For she deserves to live like a princess, and if she’ll give me the chance, I mean to see that she does.”

He looked to Connie, who still appeared entirely dazed.

“What do you say, Connie, my love? Can you forgive me for not coming sooner? Will you give me the chance to make it up to you?”

Connie’s lips trembled, and she pressed them together tightly, but she gave a nod of her head that made the man beam with pleasure. “Did you wait for me, love? Is that why you never married?”

“Of course I didn’t wait for you!” Connie retorted, his words provoking her enough to shatter the spell she was under. “I thought you were dead, you halfwit! But I could never marry another, for you took my heart with you when you went.”

Unable to help himself, even with Maggie hovering protectively at her aunt’s side, Cecil got to his feet and went to her, falling to his knees before Connie and taking her hands. He kissed each one, gazing at her with such awe Maggie blushed and wished herself elsewhere, but they could not leave Connie alone with the man.

“I never married either, love, for the same reason. So you can imagine my disappointment when I went to the manor and found you gone, the house all shut up. I asked your neighbour, Mr Woolgar, but he wouldn’t tell me a thing, so I tracked down Rachel, who used to work in the kitchens, and she told me you’d all fled. I was horrified and ever more determined to find you. I’m so sorry about what happened, love. Losing your brother and the manor all at once must have been a blow to you.”

“It was,” Connie said, blinking hard. “But, Cecil… oh, I hardly know what to think. It’s… It’s too much to take in.”

She looked at Maggie, who nodded. “I think it is. If you will excuse us, Mr—?” She broke off, having forgotten his surname if she’d ever known it.

“Thompson,” he replied.

“Mr Thompson. I believe you can see my aunt is rather overcome. Perhaps you might call upon us tomorrow afternoon once she has had a little time to recover her composure?”

“Of course,” Mr Thompson said, squeezing Connie’s hands and getting to his feet. “I’m a clumsy brute, I know, but I’d do nothing to distress Connie. Not for the world.”

This did much to reassure Maggie about his character and his intentions, and so she thanked him warmly for his understanding, allowed Mr Weston to supply directions, and the family guided a stunned Connie back out to their waiting carriage.

“You will come tomorrow,” Connie said, something between disbelief and terror in her eyes as Cecil stood by the open carriage door.

“My love, now I know you can forgive me for everything, I would follow you to the ends of the earth. I’ll be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the one after if you wish it. I’ll never leave your side again, unless you command me to go.”