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Nicholas began to comprehend. Lucy had been brought up as the daughter of the house. Susan Deakin — Mary’s child by him — had been reared as a servant girl. The strong bond between the two of them was now explained. They were stepsisters. Mary provided further clarification.

‘When Joan was dying,’ she said, ‘she told Susan the truth. The girl knew that you were her father. That’s why she came to you in London, Nick. We were in trouble and the one person who could help us was you. Susan idolised you. She stole clothing, took the fastest horse and set out to find you. Can you imagine the risks she must have run? She would only have done such a thing to reach her father.’

Nicholas was sobered. He had fled from Barnstaple but others had stayed to bear the burdens that he had left behind. There was no way that his action could be fully justified, but at least he had been given the opportunity to redeem himself. He did not save Mary from marriage to Matthew Whetcombe, but he had fought off another predatory merchant and rescued her inheritance. To reach Barnstaple, he had put his life at risk: to help Mary, he had even forced himself to confront the father whom he loathed.

He looked down at Lucy as she played with her dolls and he leant over to place a gentle kiss on her head. But his real sympathy was reserved for Susan Deakin. His daughter had been relegated to an inferior position all her life. When she was told the name of her real father, she was given dignity and status for the first time. Susan showed the bravery of a true Bracewell in trying to contact him, but she had died before they could even speak. He felt her loss like a stone in his heart. The girl had been the hapless child of a doomed love. His only consolation lay in the fact that he had been able to avenge her death.

Nicholas did not wish to spend another night in the house where she had lived. His daughter’s spirit hovered there to haunt his conscience. He rose from his seat and began to take his leave, but the others reacted with alarm. Lucy clutched at his arm and Mary made a heartfelt plea.

‘Stay here with us, Nick!’

‘I may not do that.’

‘What is to stop you?’

‘There is no place for me in this house.’

‘We are making a place for you,’ she said, putting an arm around Lucy’s shoulders. ‘But for you, we would have been driven out of here. But for you, everything that was rightly ours would have been stripped away from us. You gave it all back to us and have a right to share in our good fortune.’ Lucy nodded eagerly, as if she had heard every word. ‘Make a new life here with us. It is what Susan would have wanted.’

‘Is it what you want, Mary?’

‘I think so.’

‘After all that has happened between us?’

‘That is dead and buried,’ she said. ‘Now that you have explained it to me, I can understand why you behaved as you did. And I forgive you. In a way, I am as much to blame. If I had told you that night that I was carrying a child, you would have acted very differently.’

‘That is true.’

‘Stay here, Nick,’ she said, softly. ‘We were neither of us able to be real parents to poor Susan. You did not even know that she existed and I had to pretend that I did not care for the child. Let us make amends with Lucy. She can be our daughter now. You will be a real father to her.’

The girl nodded again and held up two dolls. Nicholas recognised himself and Mary, side by side in miniature. It was a powerful image and he was deeply touched. His resolve wavered for a second then he shook his head.

‘It is out of the question, Mary,’ he said, with a glance around. ‘I am not able to support you in this fashion.’

‘You would not need to, Nick. We have money enough to keep us in style for the rest of our days.’

‘I could never live off Matthew Whetcombe’s wealth.’

‘Then use it to produce an income of your own. You are from merchant stock. Buy and sell as Matthew did. There is a ship and a crew at your disposal. Would you not like to have control of the Mary?’

It was a great temptation and Nicholas wavered again. To own such a ship would be to fulfil a lifelong ambition, and he could use it to restore some respect in trading circles to the name of Bracewell. Mary Whetcombe was showing true forgiveness in making such a generous offer. Yet he could never accept it. To secure the Mary, he had to take charge of the woman after whom it was named, and she brought a troublesome cargo in her hold. As long as he remained in the house, he would be locked in with too many ghosts.

‘Thank you, Mary,’ he said. ‘You show a kindness and a forbearance that I do not deserve. I love you for that. But I cannot stay here with you and Lucy. It is impossible for me to make a new life in a place with so many old memories. For my own peace of mind, I must get away from Barnstaple.’

‘And from me.’

‘From my father, mainly. Everything that occurred in the past stemmed from him. I find it hard to forgive.’

‘Do not be too harsh on him.’

‘His lust for another woman killed my mother,’ he said. ‘He drove her into her grave. He was so obsessed with his own needs that he tried to marry his son into the Hurrell family to give him a legitimate excuse to call more often at the house. He would never have consented to our betrothal. My father put his own lascivious urges first.’

‘He paid for them in time, Nick.’

‘So did we all.’

‘Do you know what happened to him?’

‘That is evident. He fell from grace.’

‘But do you know how — and when?’

‘I would rather not dwell on it.’

‘But you should,’ she insisted. ‘You cannot judge him until you know the full picture. I had no idea that his relationship with Margaret Hurrell went back for so many years. It did not come to light until after you had fled from Barnstaple. Your father was very discreet. Nobody suspected for a moment that any impropriety had taken place.’

‘Not even Katherine herself?’

‘She was a good match and soon married someone else. They live in Exeter with a large family. They were well clear of Barnstaple when the scandal eventually broke.’

‘And when was that?’

‘Not until a few years ago.’

‘They kept it secret for all that while?’

‘Your father was a clever man,’ she said. ‘He knew how to hide things beneath that bluff manner. And he could be charming when he wanted to be. Matthew liked him enough to do business with him and to invite him here as a friend. They did, after all, have something in common.’

‘Susan?’

‘Nobody told him. Your father guessed for himself. As soon as he saw the girl, he knew that she was yours. He never said anything even when Matthew forbade him to come to the house. He never betrayed us.’ She brushed back a lock of hair. ‘He was very kind to Susan. He loved her and brought her presents. In his own quiet way, he tried to do right by her. Susan was very hurt when he no longer called here.’

‘And when was that?’

‘When the truth about him and Margaret Hurrell finally emerged. They were caught together by her husband. You can imagine the way that the scandal spread. Robert Bracewell and the wife of a man with whom he did business. It was the end of your father. Barnstaple turned its back on him. Matthew refused even to speak to him. The whole community treated him like a leper.’

‘So he had to leave the town?’

‘In complete disgrace.’

Nicholas found a granule of sympathy for his father. He understood what it must have been like to be ostracised by the world in which a man had spent his whole life. Barnstaple was a narrow-minded and inward-looking community. It conferred great respect on its members, but it was merciless with those who forfeited that respect. Robert Bracewell had been hounded out of a town he had honoured. Nicholas’s sympathy was soon crushed beneath his hatred. By pursuing one woman so relentlessly, his father had broken the heart of another. Having sacrificed a wife to his lust, he was even ready to sacrifice his eldest son.