“I believe we should go and see him,” Mary insisted frantically. “I do not know why, but I think I need to see him face to face to discover the truth.” She could see Charlotte giving her a confused look, and she did not know how to explain herself. “I cannot explain it, but there is something in my chest telling me that I need to go.” She opened her eyes wide, pleading with her sister. “Please, understand me. I know it is impossible to understand when I am acting so crazy, but please. Just believe me. Something is wrong; I just know it. I need to go and see for myself.”
“Yes,” Charlotte agreed rapidly. Not because she knew what Mary was trying to tell her, but because she wanted to get out of the house. She had not realised how isolated she had become until her sister came along and she started to make her go to all of these places; Mr Thompson’s home, their old house ... she loved it all just because it was not here. “Of course, let us go. We will put your mind at ease. You will soon see that everything is just fine.”
Mary nodded and gulped. “Yes, I do hope that you are right.” But she did not believe that Charlotte was right. She had a feeling that her instincts were correct instead. “Thank you, Charlotte, I appreciate you taking this seriously.”
***
“He is gone.” Charlotte could not believe it. She clutched onto her stomach as shock swam around her rapidly. “You were right, Mary. He is gone.”
Neither girl could believe it; it was worse than either of them expected. They had both managed to relax on the journey to see Mr Thompson, even Mary started to convince herself that she had allowed her mind to get twisted up in knots because being inside Lord Jones’ home was driving her crazy, but now she could see that her instincts were right in the first place. She should have trusted her gut again.
“This ... this might not be what it seems.” Mary gulped her emotion down. She needed to remain strong for Charlotte. Her sister had a child growing inside of her, and she needed to ensure that baby did not endure stress inside Charlotte’s womb because of this situation. But it was not easy to find anything to be positive about with the overwhelming evidence in front of them. “Maybe ... maybe he has just moved home, and he forgot to tell us. Maybe that is the reason I have not received a letter from him. He simply forgot to tell me.”
Charlotte turned to give her sister a glare. “Do you really believe that is what happened?” Her hands fell onto her hips as a red-hot burning rage overcame her. “Do you honestly think that he forgot to tell you that he is selling his own home when he has been doing the same for us?”
“Well, I do not know.” Mary shrugged her shoulders as she tried so hard to find something else to offer Charlotte. The last thing she wanted was to accept what was standing right in front of her. “But it is possible ...”
“It is not possible, Mary. You need to start thinking more sensibly. We need to work out what his motivation might have been.” Charlotte tapped her chin thoughtfully. “He did not seem to keen on your idea if we really think about it. He did not jump on the opportunity to do what you were suggesting, which was the easiest and most obvious solution.” Charlotte did not know where she was going with this train of thought, but it was running through her brain. “And why not? Did he have another plan all along? Something else that he wanted to do?” Charlotte pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, and she peered through the window. “Do you think it is possible he left Father’s will inside there? Maybe he did not give you all the information for a reason.”
“He was always very strange about it,” Mary replied carefully. “And he would not ever let me see it, but I do not think that Father would allow something horrible to happen to us ...”
“No, I do not either.” Charlotte shook her head rapidly. “But maybe he did not want you to see that there was an alternative to marrying Duke Smith for a reason. Maybe ... could he have been planning this all along?” She ran her fingers through her hair in distress. “Could he have wanted to sell our family home and steal the money?”
Mary’s heart thundered; she could feel it banging painfully against her ribcage. If what Charlotte was suggesting was the truth, then they were both stuck. Charlotte would not have an option to escape her terrible marriage if that was what she wanted, and Mary would not have anywhere to live. She would be lost, homeless, and penniless. She would have even less than the working class people that she saw. Mary tried to picture herself in that position, living in squalor, struggling for food, with nothing to wear ... if she ended up like this, then her petty problems that she had right now would seem ridiculous. She would wish that she had just married Duke Smith when she had the chance, whatever he had done to other people.
A tear filled her eye; she could not accept this. This was not what she wanted to happen. She had made all these plans, and she wanted at least some of them to happen. For her and Charlotte’s sake. She could not believe that Walter would take off with her inheritance, leaving the girls with nothing. Maybe he would try to justify it by suggesting that she did not marry the Duke, that she did not marry anyone, but that was not fair. He did not deserve the money; it was never his.
Now, she could not help anyone. Not herself, not her sister, not Daisy.
I have let everyone down.
“How will we find out the truth?” she asked Charlotte, needing to rid her brain of any negative thoughts so she did not get lost within them. “What will we do?”
“We need to go to our house,” Charlotte said determinedly. “We need to see what is going on with our family home. That is the only way we will get our answers. There is still a chance that this is all innocent at the moment. There is no point in getting upset over something we do not fully understand.”
Mary pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away a stray tear. “Yes.” She nodded. “You are right, Charlotte. That is what we should do.”
Mary followed her sister away from Walter’s house, hating everything that was going on around her. She needed somehow for this to all be alright, but there was still that feeling in her gut that it was not ... and her instincts had been right too many times.
***
As the girls walked back into Lord Jones’ home, it was with very heavy hearts. They were shell-shocked; they could hardly believe it. There was no scope for hope anymore; every shred of it had been slashed. There was truly nothing left.
“It is all gone,” Mary whispered. “I have nothing. I am destitute. The house has been sold; it now belongs to another family, and Walter is nowhere to be found. He has stolen the family fortune and left me with nothing. I thought ...”
She stopped herself there because she did not know what she thought. She certainly did not think that she and Walter were friends; he had never shown her any like. But she never thought he was the sort of person who would do anything like this.