Mistress of Greyladies Read Online Free

his sake. He’d have hated to be helpless and confined to bed. I’d like to have said goodbye properly, though.’
    To Joseph, her generation seemed overly fond of deathbed scenes, describing them with relish and wanting to be at the bedside of anyone dying.
    ‘We’d better go and have our meal.’ She patted his cheek and became practical again. ‘You can stay for the funeral?’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘Do we need to find you a temporary manservant?’
    ‘I don’t need as much help as I used to, but I’ve brought a young fellow from the village with me. Jack helped with the luggage on the journey. I only use the wheelchair for long distances now or if I need a rest. I know it looks ugly when I walk but I’m much stronger these days. Harriet packed suitable clothes for the funeral, just in case.’
    ‘How is Harriet? And the boys?’
    ‘They’re all well. She sends her apologies for notcoming, but we have a problem with the matron in the convalescent home and daren’t leave her unobserved. The woman only wanted to pull out and burn the old oak door, a sixteenth-century piece! We’re praying the commandant will be friendlier than her, but he’s not arrived yet.’
    ‘She sounds dreadful. I don’t know what the government is thinking of, taking over people’s houses like that when everyone says the war won’t last long.’
    He didn’t respond to that. His mother didn’t seem to realise that modern warfare and weapons would cause a far greater number of casualties and there would have to be places where they could recover. ‘Selwyn must have started drinking early. His speech was slurred.’
    ‘He’s been pouring whisky down non-stop since he arrived, and he’s been rude to everyone. I’ve seen very little of him in the past few years, but Thomas says he’s still gambling. I doubt the house will stay in the family for much longer. William was wrong to leave it to Selwyn. Even you would have made a better owner than him.’
    She seemed quite unaware how insulting this was, but Joseph didn’t protest. He was quite accustomed to the way his family underestimated him. If he told his mother how much money he’d made from his small inheritance during the years since his marriage, or how well he’d managed the annual income from the Greyladies Trust, she’d find it hard to believe.
    As he ate his meal, he endured the direct insults of his eldest brother without responding, then went to bed early, pleading tiredness.
    He was glad when Thomas arrived the following day. Since his next brother was in banking and knew aboutJoseph’s improving financial situation, they usually had plenty to talk about. He got on best with Thomas, but it made him sad that he didn’t feel truly close to any of his brothers, and his sister was like a complete stranger. None of them had made any attempt to get to know him better, not to mention avoiding contact with Harriet because she’d once been a housemaid.
    Joseph doubted he’d come back here again after the funeral, even though he was fond of his old home – well, more than fond, he loved the place and was the only one who knew its history. But the house belonged to Selwyn now, Joseph had a new home and life, and that was that.
    He sighed and admitted to himself that sometimes he ached to be back at Dalton House. Perhaps you always had a special feeling for your childhood home. He hadn’t let Harriet know how he felt, though, and never would.

Chapter Two
    Phoebe
    When Phoebe Sinclair was sixteen, she had to grow up quickly because her mother became too ill to work. A failing heart, the doctor told them, and nothing could be done. From then on, Phoebe took charge of their little cottage in the village of Knightsford Bassett and cared for her mother as she grew weaker.
    At first she did odd jobs to earn money, cleaning, laundry work or helping on nearby farms at busy times. They scraped together enough to live on, because they had free eggs from their own hens, and bits and