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.“Well? Which is it to be?”I forced my head up.“I’ll come.”After a moment, apparently satisfied, Leslie released my waist but not my wrist.He did not speak as he dragged me out of the copse and I could not understand what was happening.Even of Leslie I would not have expected such Turkish treatment.“Can we not walk slower?” I gasped.“We have kept your father waiting long enough!” he tossed back at me.“You knew!” I accused bitterly.“Yes, I knew,” he said grimly.The effort to keep pace with Leslie reduced me to silence.Only when we reached the castle did he slow.“Smile,” he warned.Mrs.Morgan met us at the door.“If Master Philip or Peter return,” he told her softly, “tell them Lady Kinwell is found.”She nodded, and pretending an amiability neither of us felt, Leslie and I proceeded to the library.Lord Pellen was seated at the desk, waiting.He stood as we entered and Leslie, not content with dragging me here, thrust me into a chair.Pellen waited for Leslie to shut the library door, then shook his head at me.“My dear child, I am disappointed.I thought you were made of sterner stuff.Nevertheless, your behaviour was not a disaster.Mrs.Bentworth quite naturally assumed you were a well-bred young lady who disdained to reply to her insult.”Though stunned, I now found my tongue.“Indeed? How fortunate.Yet I wonder how she reacted to your reply.I am very sorry, father, but somehow I could not bear to stay and hear you confirm her suspicions.Was it necessary to tell her I was your by-blow? But then what should I have expected of a man who deserted me at birth, spending barely enough to keep me at school and allow me two dresses a year? And who should cease even this meagre aid upon my eighteenth birthday!”“That will be quite enough!” Pellen’s voice rang out.“You speak from ignorance.First, as I told Mrs.Bentworth, you are not illegitimate.Your mother, Elizabeth Wade, and I eloped and though underage, were married nineteen years ago.If you care to see them, I have the marriage lines.” I nodded and he passed a paper over to me, and I saw the names and the fact of their marriage stated there.At last I looked at my father questioningly.“That’s better,” he said.“Elizabeth’s father opposed the match and he disowned her.My parents were more incensed and physically dragged me home.Elizabeth was the daughter of a clergyman.I, the future earl, betrothed to a wealthy heiress from an eminent family.My parents tried to annul the marriage, but Elizabeth was pregnant.I was kept locked at home until you were born, while my parents hushed up the elopement and, unknown to me, did not break my engagement.Elizabeth died giving birth to you, Heather.That much I know to be true.But I was also told you had died.Within a year I allowed myself to be married to the heiress, who had no notion this was my second marriage.Secretly my mother arranged for your care and education, determined no one should ever know of your existence.She was afraid it would destroy my marriage.I did not learn of you until Sir Leslie came to inform me he intended to marry you.”I sat in shock, finally managing to say, “But Mrs.Gilwen said I was illegitimate.”Leslie answered.“She thought you were.Lord Pellen’s mother claimed to be your guardian but swore Mrs.Gilwen to secrecy.She scented a scandal.”“You must not judge my mother too harshly,” Pellen said, “She felt she was doing the best for me and doing her duty by you.When Mrs.Gilwen offered to give you a position at the school, my mother felt it would be suitable.”“Suitable!” I exclaimed.“An unpaid teacher?”“She did not realise this was the sort of position meant,” he said soothingly.“And now?” I asked.“Now? Now I shall recognise you, of course,” he replied.“After this morning the entire countryside will soon know you are my daughter by a prior marriage, one which lasted a regrettably short time.In London, an announcement has been placed to the effect that Sir Leslie Kinwell and Lady Heather, daughter of the Earl of Pellen, have been married.”“Don’t you think someone will wonder why I have never been seen at your house with you?” I demanded sarcastically.He sighed.“You are being difficult, Heather.The answer is really quite simple.I was away when my wife, Elizabeth, gave birth.Due to some confusion, I was told both Elizabeth and the baby had died.I have just recently been united with my long-lost daughter whom I discovered because she has been given (due to a clerical error) the name Heather Wade.Such a touching and romantic story.”“And who had been caring for me?”“A childless woman, who believed you to have been abandoned, anonymously provided the money for you to be sent to school.Alas, you have never known the name of your benefactress.Nor, despite my efforts, have I been able to discover it.” He smiled.“Later this Season I shall introduce to society my charming daughter who is now Lady Kinwell.You will be veritably inundated with respectability and will be able to claim your rightful place in the ton.”He was very pleased with himself and I was forced to admit the tale was clever, the ruse might work.Ruse? It was essentially the truth.I was respectable.And yet I disliked the idea of even this amount of deception
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