Free The Affectionate Adversary by Catherine Palmer

indeed.”
    A lump rose in Sarah’s throat as she remembered Charles Locke’s shoulder pressed against hers, his ardent avowal of love, his presentation of a plan to offer her security and contentment the rest of her life.
    But what of her commitment to God? What of her certainty that only poverty could lead to true joy?
    “I do not believe love can bring happiness, Prudence,” Sarah said. “Not even true love.”
    “Really? But there is nothing I should like better than to meet a man who would love me truly and eternally.”
    “For myself,” Mary put in, “I believe wealth is the real measure of one’s potential for happiness. Love hardly matters in the end, Pru, I assure you. Passion is fleeting, as you must sadly learn when you find a husband. No, sister, I should much rather have money. If one is rich enough, nothing can stand in the way of making life the best it can possibly be. And therein lies the true source of pleasure.”
    Sarah lifted her dessert spoon and slipped it into her custard. “You are for wealth, then, Mary. And Pru is for love. But I have decided that only God can bring real purpose and joy to life.”
    “Aye, by giving me a handsome husband!” Prudence quipped. “What can be wrong with that?”
    “Nothing,” Sarah replied, “and perhaps He will. But I can see the possibility of peace and joy only if I divest myself of all earthly bonds. That is why I shall give the greater part of Father’s legacy to the needy. And that is why I turned down Mr. Locke’s proposal.”
    Prudence tossed her head. “And that is why—as I am certain Miss Pickworth would warn—you are doomed to roam the world on a creaky old ship, dodging pirates and sleeping with beggars until you are old and alone and eaten up with some awful disease. Then my darling husband and I shall whisk you back to England, where Mary will have to spend her money on a good doctor to make you well again. Never mind that if you would come to your senses in the first place, we could be spared such rigors altogether. There!”
    As Prudence waved her spoon in the air in a final flourish to her recitation, both Sarah and Mary burst out laughing. With a giggle, Pru returned to her dessert. Upon her last visit to St. James’s, she declared, she had met the most fascinating gentleman of her acquaintance, and she insisted on telling her sisters all about him at once.

   Five   
     
    “You must go and make of it what you can.” James Locke handed his son the card that had arrived in the morning post. “It is very likely you may encounter a gentleman who would be interested in investing in our tea company.”
    Charles scanned the invitation to the formal reception and then set it aside. Since returning to London a fortnight before, he had done little but listen to his father’s schemes and plans. James had been devastated at the news of the pirate attack and the loss of his gold. Though relieved to find his son alive and in reasonable health, he could not seem to accept the truth: Locke & Son, Ltd., no longer existed.
    The few men who had invested in the enterprise immediately demanded the return of their money. Plans to lease a warehouse until one could be built had to be scrapped. All hope of freedom from the mundane and servile existence that had been the Locke family’s lot for generations was gone.
    Charles sighed. “Father, may I state with all due respect that you are too much fixed upon the past. We no longer have your gold. We are not proprietors of a tea company. That dream is at an end.”
    “Nonsense!” James smoothed down the fringe of graying hair that remained at the back of his head. “We must think. Think carefully.”
    “Sir, we have repeatedly considered all our options. Without financing, the situation is hopeless.”
    “But that is the key!” The older man swung around, his blue eyes aglow. “We must secure investors once again. I have earned a respectable reputation in the city, and you are young and