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the seal and unfolded the sheet of paper. Her hands were trembling and her voice was a little shaky as she began to read aloud.
     
    My dear sister, Sophia,
    It was with great sadness and shock that I read Charlotte’s letter, and my heart goes out to you both in your sad loss. George was not only my brother-in-law, he was also my mentor and friend, and I grieve deeply that he has been taken from us all.
    To tell you now that Charlotte’s letter arrived on the very day I had decided to return to England anyway might seem to stretch coincidence too far, but it is the truth. Much as I’ve come to love America and its people, I’ve been missing England more and more, and recently I’ve yearned to come home. America has been good to the black sheep of the Pagett family, Sophia, with the result that he has had the opportunity to rebuild the fortune he squandered before leaving England. I am once again a very wealthy fellow, and very much in a position to take care of those most dear to me. You and Charlotte need me now, and if I am honest, I need you too, for I’ve been without my family for far too long. I will not fail you. Kimber Park may be gone, but there are other estates, and other town houses to take the place of the one you lost in Berkeley Square. I shall leave America as soon as I am able to put my rather complicated affairs in order, which might unfortunately take several months, my assets being scattered over three states, but I estimate that I shall be home in England some time next spring.
    You will not hear from me again as I shall be quitting this address and moving about the country attending to my business affairs, and anyway, you know by now that I’m the world’s worst correspondent. I look forward with all my heart to being reunited with you both, and want more than anything to be able to restore you to your proper place in society.
    Until next spring, I am, most affectionately, your loving brother,
    Richard
     
    Mrs. Wyndham’s cheeks were wet with tears as she put the letter down. “I hardly dare believe it,” she whispered. “Charlotte, he’s coming home! Richard’s coming home! And he’s wealthy enough to put an end to all this.” She glanced around at the plain dining room. “Oh, I’ve been hoping and hoping, and then, just when I’d begun to fear the worst…. Oh, how I wish he’d written straightaway, and how I wish next spring wasn’t so very far in the future.”
    Something was puzzling Charlotte and she picked up the letter. “But he didn’t delay, Mother, he wrote immediately he received my first letter, look at the date. The first of August 1816. He then left his New York address and that’s why all my other letters have gone unanswered; he never received them. I don’t know what happened to this letter of his, but it went horridly astray somewhere between here and America; it’s taken ten months to reach us.”
    Her mother stared at her and then gave a squeak that was half-delight, half-horror. “Then it’s this spring he’ll be arriving? Good heavens, he could be here at any moment! The spare room must be aired and cleaned from top to bottom, and all sorts of preparations must be made. I must speak to Mrs. White immediately.” Without further ado, she got up, gathering her rustling skirts to hurry out calling the cook.
    Charlotte smiled. How good it was to hear that sudden brightness in her mother’s voice. And how good it would be to have Richard with them again after all this time. She felt suddenly close to tears herself, for she too had really begun to fear the worst, that Richard Pagett was no more.
    But now all such fears could be forgotten, and with them their present reduced circumstances, for Richard would return a wealthy man.
    She was lighthearted when a little later she left the house to go to the library in Wigmore Street to collect Glenarvon. Her black bonnet ribbons fluttered in the warm May sunshine and her tread was quick, and she had no inkling of