“Oh no, no,” I said. “I liked Joe. I wanted to help him. He suffered so much when his father was in trouble. But I never loved him … not as I love you.”
“I guessed there was something between you. Annora, if you would care for Jonnie to come here … to be brought up here … I could be fond of him … treat him as my own son.”
“Jonnie, come here! His mother would never allow that. Helena dotes on him. He’s her beloved first-born.” I stared at him in astonishment. “Oh no. You couldn’t have thought …”
“Well,” he said. “You went to Australia. He was born there. You were friendly with Joe. There seemed to be some mystery about his birth.”
“You thought he was mine! And you were ready to marry me and have him here. Oh, Rolf, I do love you so much. Jonnie is Helena’s child. John Milward is his father. Matthew, who scarcely knew her then, nobly married her so that as she was to have a child she should have a husband.”
“What a web we wove with our imaginations!”
“You no less than I. I’m glad of that. It makes me feel less guilty. Helena is wonderfully happy. Isn’t it marvellous that all that contentment should have come about in a marriage which was so arranged?”
“How much better one should be when the two people concerned have been in love ever since they knew each other. That’s true, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s true.”
“There is one little point which needs clearing up. There is Cador. It will now come back into your possession. How will you know I am not marrying you for Cador?”
“I’ll take the risk,” I said. “And frankly, I can only rejoice that you may want it so much that you are ready to take me with it.”
“That’s a fair offer. Now I have something to tell you. Luke Tregern raised money with Cador as security. It’s mortgaged up to the hilt. Some of the money which Luke Tregern amassed will be retrieved no doubt. But not all. Cador will not be in the sound financial position which it was before all this happened. I’ll tell you something; I secured the greater part of the mortgages. So you could say that instead of your bringing Cador to me I am bringing it to you.”
I was astonished. I had been warned that a great deal of harm had been done to the estate during Maria’s possession. I knew that Bob Carter was going into the accounts with Rolf, but I had not realized to what extent it had suffered.
Rolf took my hands and said: “There is only one thing for you to do now and that is get well … just as quickly as you can.”
We were silent for some time.
Then he said: “Annora, there is nothing else, is there? No other misapprehension, no other misunderstanding?”
“No,” I said. “Nothing.”
“We’ll be married in Midsummer. That will exorcise the ghosts.”
“Then there will be another Midsummer’s Eve to remember,” I said.