“Do not leave us, Caroline,” he said. “You have heard so much of the story that you must hear the end. And Dorcas too.” he added kindly, looking at the elderly woman who was wiping her eyes on the corner of her apron.
“Francis, dear Francis,” Lady Brecon asked in a low voice, “is it really you?”
“Yes, my dearest, it is I. Oh, Margaret, if you only know what I have suffered all these past years when I could not find you. I searched everywhere in Yorkshire. They told me your father had died but they had no idea where you were living, or whether indeed you were alive.”
“But what happened to you, Francis?” Lady Brecon enquired. “And what has brought you here now?”
“That is another story, my dear,” he said, glancing at Caroline. “I wish to tell you that in my own way and in my own good time
