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“Well, let’s go and see where Cedrick’s mother lives then, eh?” Ryan suggested, a little more eager now that he knew he was onto something that would ruin both Cedrick and Wilhelmina’s credibility.
Minutes later, they paused outside a small single-storey dwelling. At one point in its life it might have been painted white. Now, moss grew on the walls, and ivy cove
red practically everything else. It was old, and about as decrepit as Wilhelmina’s house had been. It was also occupied.
“Hello.” Ryan watched the old woman in the front garden blink in astonishment when she saw him. She eyed the fine cut of his clothing warily before she remembered her status and dipped into a curtsey.
“Are you Cedrick’s mother?”
“Cedrick?” The woman blinked. “He is my son, yes.”
“Cedrick Grant.”
“No. Cedrick Aldover,” the woman corrected, looking a mite relieved.
“That’s the one,” Ryan corrected. “Is he not at home?”
The old woman cackled. “He hasn’t lived here for nigh on twenty years, duckie, and he ain’t likely to neither. He doesn’t come to see me anymore. If he does, he is always after something.”
“Sounds like Cedrick,” Ryan muttered. “What of his acquaintance with Wilhelmina Mullen, can you tell me that much?”
“Never heard of the woman. I expect she is another of his doxies,” the woman grumbled.
“Cedrick doesn’t work then, eh?”
“Nah, he lives off them that he can call friends for a while, until they get tired of him. Then he moves on to someone else. That’s the way Cedrick works. Always has, always will, I expect.”
“It isn’t something to be proud of,” Ryan countered flatly because the woman sounded positively boastful about her son’s shocking attitude towards fleecing people.
“I ain’t sayin’ its right, it’s just what he does, duckie, that’s all.”
“So he lives off other people’s grace and favour,” Ryan muttered. He shook his head and shared a look with Norman, who had indeed been right when he had suggested that Cedrick was out to find a wife whom he could fleece off.
“Thank you for your time,” Ryan murmured to the older woman.
He quickly wheeled his horse around, barely giving the older woman a second look as he left the area far behind.
“What do you want to do now?” Norman asked.
“Well, it is no good telling Arthur what we know. We need to think very carefully about this. I think there has to be some merit in Wilhelmina having a hold on Arthur of some kind.”
“Or, like I have said, Cedrick having a hold on Wilhelmina. It doesn’t really matter, does it? I mean, they are both out to find themselves lifestyles someone else pays for. As far as Cedrick is concerned, he can use Wilhelmina to force a marriage to one of Arthur’s daughters. Wilhelmina has probably told him that she can force the man to pay for whatever she wants. As such, Arthur’s sense of duty will be enough to make him do everything he can to help look after his daughters if any of them, even once married, find themselves unable to live independently.”
“Meaning Arthur will be expected to pay for his daughter and Cedrick’s lifestyles as well as Wilhelmina’s and all because he has a moral ‘duty’ as head of the family,” Ryan sighed. “Mother of God, they are leeches.”
“The question is, how do we get Arthur to understand that? We could show him the house but that only proves Wilhelmina lied about living there. If she has gotten herself in a financial mess, adding to Arthur’s burden by getting him to pay yet more debts for her isn’t going to do anything but drive Arthur into the poor house. If you step in, you are going to end up paying for the whole leeching lot of them.” Norman shook his head in disgust.
Ryan rubbed a hand down his face and swore. “Do you know something? If Wilhelmina owns that house, she must be put back in it. There has been a fire. The evidence of it is in the kitchen. However, it is nothing that a coat of paint cannot fix. It has to be said that she could be back in there by the end of the week, but without furniture. God knows what she has done with that. If she can be sent home, she could be out of Arthur’s house in a matter of days. It is then up to Arthur to ensure that she starts to live within her means and sticks to her allowance. If she can’t then she will have to go to a poor house. It is better that Wilhelmina goes to a poor house than Arthur and his family.”
“And if that house doesn’t belong to Wilhelmina?”
“Then we have a problem because there is no place else for that dratted woman to go,” Ryan growled.
“So, she will stay with Arthur and do her level best to get Cedrick married to one of the daughters.”
“Do you really see Wilhelmina as being close friends with that aged old woman back there?”
“No.”
