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Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"My every instinct urges me to say no, yet I have no reason to be so certain. There were quite long periods when I never saw either of them. So in a court of law, now - I couldn't swear it was impossible." She smiled sweetly and then added, "But in any case, why should such a tale agitate you so? It was all a long time ago, and surely you must know that we, too, were

young once, and made lots of silly mistakes?" Kathleen drew a deep breath and said, "Promise me you won't tell anyone? Only it's such an enormous discovery. They did have a daughter, you see! They

called her Teresa, and ...

"But how can you know such a thing?" Daphne asked - in just the right sort of dismissive tone that would egg the girl on to tell more, tell all.

And sure enough Kathleen produced the coup de grâce at once: "Because I've just met her! In America. you A week ago yesterday I had luncheon with her. Michael Harding and me, so you can ask her if think I imagined it all. And you'll never guess what! She is the living image of her mother - down to the last little freckle! I recognized her at once, just from

seeing that photo." "Well-well-well. I can understand your interest now."

"So you think it's possible?" Daphne nodded her head judiciously. "I have to confess that everything you say makes it sound more and more likely. But how did she manage to end up in America?"

"Papa must have arranged for her to be brought up by relatives in Ireland - though she always believed they were her true mother and father, of course. And then, d'you remember when he took the Pegasus over to America? Well, as luck would have it, that was the voyage on which he'd arranged to collect her in Cork and take her to America, where she has family. He even put her in a special cabin. And then when the Great Storm came ..." She stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes heavenward. "Lord!"

"What now?"

"Don't you realize? It must have seemed to him that history was about to repeat itself. First the Goodwins, then that bit of wild New England coast. How awful to have brought her safely through her first twenty years only to see her drown, too! Poor Papa!" "But obviously history didn't repeat itself."

"No. When he deliberately ran Pegasus aground and sent everyone ashore bar himself, he kept her back, too. Secretly." cleared her

Daphne made of that!" throat. "I wonder what she "Well that's when he told her the truth about her

parentage. He told her he was her father."

"I see. And she, in turn, vouchsafed all this to you,

did she?" "Not a word of it," Kathleen said triumphantly. "She's as tight-lipped as could be. No, I worked it all out for myself!" She stuck her thumbs in her armpits and fanned her fingers, the way Lawrence used to when he boasted of some bit of cleverness.

"What a convoluted tale it is, to be sure," Daphne said, making sure to caress her with admiration. "And so now she's living over there with her adoptive family, is she? Do they know of it?"

"No. The only family she spoke of to me, over there, is a brother - Ignatius and he obviously doesn't know. I didn't meet him, mind."

"Ignatius? Goodness gracious, are they Roman Catholics? The Brights, I remember, were as staunch Protestants as you'd ever hope to find. They won't be resting easy in their graves. Or in Davy Jones's locker. Is she not living with this brother, either?" Kathleen chewed her lip anxiously and said, "I'm

starting to feel a little cold. Can we go back?" "By all means." Daphne obliged her at once by turning round. "Heat is in the very sod," she added, consciously stepping in Kathleen's footprints. "Did you hear what I asked?"

"Yes." The girl sighed. "That's the awkward bit. You see, in a way history has repeated itself. The fact is, Jenny was expecting a child when she boarded Pegasus that time."

"Oh dear!" Her pace slowed to a saunter. "But the baby must be ... what? Eighteen months or something by now? Yes, just about eighteen months, I'd say. And Pegasus ran aground in March 'eighty-five, didn't she. My memory at least reaches back that far."

"Actually," Kathleen admitted with reluctance, "one can't be sure. He was born on Christmas Day that same year. So, er, it could have happened just after she landed in America." "Or..." Daphne's pause seemed to last a year, "...

just before she embarked, as you said." "Yes," Kathleen agreed with relief. "Anyway, it means Papa is still keeping her, still shielding her from her shame."

"It would be so like him."

"He's allowing her to syle herself 'Mrs Morgan,

you see. It would avoid so many awkward questions."

Daphne almost choked at that opinion. "Locally, I mean," Kathleen explained. "In New Haven."

"Ah, locally!" Daphne echoed. "New Haven's where they live, is it?"

"Just outside. It's a little township called Fife, near

the ocean." "Fife."

Kathleen laughed. "And the house - you'll never guess - the house is called Pegasus! Isn't that sweet?"

"Positively cloying!" Daphne agreed. Kathleen's laughter redoubled and she hugged her aunt's arm. "Oh, you!" she scoffed. "You like to pretend to be such a cynic and really you're as soft hearted as any of us,"

Daphne's laughter agreed with her. "So all's well that ends well," she said, wrapping the topic up for the day. "Now tell me another thing. What about little Michael Harding ..."

"She's not so little any more."

"Oh dear! Is Lawrence following in his father's footsteps, then?"

"No!" Kathleen collapsed on her arm in embarrass ment. "Don't be so awful! I don't mean like that at all. I mean she's a grown-up now. You wouldn't call her little Michael Harding if you knew her." "Is Lawrence still keeping her in those rooms in

Upper Street?" "No!" Kathleen said scornfully, as if that were another of those childish things she'd laid aside.

"Ah." Daphne's tone was crestfallen. "She pays the rent herself now. Out of her own

pocket." "Ah!" She became much happier at that.