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life, or that of your son or husband.
    “Cathy, my dear, when I arranged for your marriage to be performed by Captain Winslow on the Lady Chester, I naturally assumed that he was, as such officers are, duly authorized to perform a legal ceremony. I am certain that he assumed the same, so no blame lies at his door. But the unwelcome fact, of which I have just been apprised, is that Captain Winslow had been removed from his post by the Crown prior to solemnizing your vows. The ceremony, therefore, was not legal, and your marriage to Jonathan Hale has never, in actuality, existed.”
    The letter continued briefly, advising Cathy and Jon to marry again without delay in order to legitimatize Cray’s birth. Cathy was so stunned by what she had read that she could barely take any of it in. Finally the writing trailed off into a long squiggle, and Cathy vaguely registered that it must have been there that her father had the attack.
    “Jon and I are not married! Cray is—God forgive me—a bastard!” The words ran over and over again through her shocked brain. When finally she lifted her eyes from the paper to look at Mason, their expression was dazed.
    “Mason. . . .” Her voice sounded strangled. “Mason, are you aware of what this says?”
    “Yes, Miss Cathy,” he answered compassionately as he met Cathy’s ravaged gaze. “We found the letter after Sir Thomas had the attack. It must have been as great a shock to him as it is to you.”
    “Yes, of course.” Cathy saw what must have happened with great clarity. Herfather, made aware of this information, must have been horrified beyond expression to realize that his only daughter, instead of being happily married as he had thought, was in fact living with a man as his mistress, however unwittingly. And Cray—Sir Thomas adored his grandson. He would have been devastated to realize that the child was illegitimate. As Cathy considered the ramifications, she blanched. If this news ever became public, she would be regarded as a fallen woman, no longer welcome in the homes of her friends and acquaintances. It would put her beyond the pale: society offered no forgiveness for women who had “gone wrong,” as they put it. And Cray would no longer be his father’s legal son, no longer his heir, but a bastard! Cathy felt sick.
    “Are you all right, Miss Cathy?” Mason inquired anxiously as she swayed.
    “Mason, please fetch Martha. I think I’m going to be ill,” Cathy managed to say with some semblance of calm. Then, as Mason hurried to do her bidding, her trembling knees refused to support her any longer, and she sank down upon the rug.

    T he next few days passed in something of a blur for Cathy. Her every instinct urged her to write to Jon, advising him of what had happened. Only the fear that such a letter would bring him post-haste to England stayed her hand. She would have to go home, she realized, to set matters right, but she hated to leave her father who, contrary to his doctor’s expectations, was showing some slight improvement. Martha was as upset as she was, and together they discussed the problem at length. They both agreed that Jon, once the circumstances were made known to him, would immediately wed her again, and set about legitimatizing Cray. Cathy had no doubts at all on that score. But she could not feel comfortable until she was Jon’s legal wife. She was torn between her fear forher father and an overwhelming urge to fly back to the love and security that only Jon could offer.
    To Cathy’s amazement, her Aunt Elizabeth was unexpectedly kind. She neither reviled her niece as a harlot, nor denounced Cray as something worse. Perhaps her brother’s illness had mellowed the woman, who could say? One thing was certain, two years ago she would not have been so understanding. She would have considered Cathy and Cray a blot on the Aldley family escutcheon, and taken no pains to hide it. Cathy knew that her aunt felt no particular affection for her, so she