Read The Constant Heart for Free Online

been affected by a mould which makes it unfit for animal fodder and causes disease in humans. He said it must be taken away and destroyed.'
     
'The whole cargo?'
     
'I'm afraid so.'
     
'Is it completely valueless, Walter?'
     
'Unscrupulous dealers might buy it at a knockdown price and sell it for bedding, or even for fodder, but it is unfit for anything. I'm only surprised that Captain May did not see it himself.'
     
She had never before heard Walter utter anything close to a criticism of her father and a shiver ran down her spine. 'And Captain Barnum's cargo – is that diseased too?'
     
Walter shook his head. 'No, it is perfectly clean.'
     
'But my papa accepted the rotten hay. He should have known better, or else he was tricked into taking the unsaleable cargo.' She paced the floor, wringing her hands. It was simply not possible that Papa, with all his past experience in the trade, could have been fooled into taking on a worthless cargo. She had been aware that his health was failing, but surely not his judgement? She turned to Walter, who was standing quietly watching her with a guarded expression in his eyes. 'Don't just stand there, Walter. You must have a fair idea of what happened. Tell me what you think.'
     
'I think that this is a matter for your father, miss. It really is none of your concern.'
     
'How dare you! It is my business, and I think I know who is to blame for this disaster.' She slammed out of the office, intent on sorting things out with Captain Barnum.
     
Walter followed her. 'Just wait a moment.' He laid his hand over hers as she was about to open the front door. 'Please calm down and think it through. You'll only make matters worse.'
     
'You don't know what I have in mind.'
     
'I think I do, and I'm telling you again, that you won't win with Captain Barnum. And your father won't thank you for interfering.'
     
She pushed his hand away, meeting his eyes with a determined lift of her chin. 'Thank you, Walter. You've said your piece, now stand aside and let me do this my way.'
     
For a moment she thought he was going to do as she asked, but he folded his arms across his chest and leaned his shoulders against the door, making it impossible for her to leave the house. She stamped her foot. 'Let me out, Walter.'
     
'This isn't the way.'
     
'And who are you to tell me what to do?'
     
Walter closed his lips and said nothing.
     
She angled her head. 'Please, Walter.'
     
'Rosie.' Her father's voice from the top of the stairs made her spin round to face him as he came down them, plodding like an old man. 'What's all the noise about?' He stopped short when he saw Walter's face, and he laughed. 'Good God, man. You look as though you've done a few rounds in the ring.'
     
'He got that black eye on your account, Pa,' Rosina said, stung by the unfairness of her papa's laughing at Walter's misfortune.
     
'And so he did, poppet.' Edward modified his tone and the laughter faded from his eyes. 'But that don't answer my question. Why are you two going at each other like a pair of turkeycocks? I could hear you all the way upstairs.'
     
Walter stepped away from the door. 'It was nothing, sir. But I need to speak to you urgently.'
     
'I'm stiff and sore all over thanks to that brute Barnum. Can't it wait until I've had my breakfast?'
     
'No, sir. I don't think so.'
     
'All right, if I must. We'll go into the office. Rosie, love, go and make your poor old pa a cup of tea, if you please. I can't seem to catch me breath this morning. In fact, I think I must have caught a chill from those damnable Essex marshes.'
     
By the time she had fetched the tea, Rosina had calmed down considerably. She did not dare let on to Bertha about the spoiled cargo; she would leave that to Papa. But, as Bertha always said, there's more than one way to skin a cat. With that thought uppermost in her mind, Rosina fetched her new bonnet and her best shawl, put on her white crocheted gloves, and she set off for the Barnum's house