Free The Landower Legacy by Victoria Holt

are some things we can keep back we have to put up with it. The Landowers keep a sharp look-out on what’s going on here … just as we do on them.” She laughed again. “There’s rivalry. We’re both squires, as it were. What possessed our ancestors to build so close, I can’t imagine. And the Tressidors are the culprits. Landowers were here first. They’re proud of that. Look on us as upstarts. We’ve only been here three hundred years. Newcomers, you see! We’re on speaking terms, but only just. We’re the rival houses—Montague and Capulet. We don’t go about biting our thumbs or thrusting rapiers into each other’s gullets in the streets of the town, but we’re rivals all the same. Friendly enemies, perhaps you could call us. We haven’t had our Romeo and Juliet … not yet. I’m hardly made for Juliet and Jonas Landower is no Romeo. Certainly not now. Couldn’t really have fitted the part in his young days any more than I could. However, that’s how it is with us and the Landowers. You say you met them on the train. Coming from Plymouth, I don’t doubt. Been to see the lawyers … or the bank more likely. Things are not going well at Landower, that much I know. Cost of keeping up the place is astronomical. It’s creaking. It’s about two hundred years older than Tressidor … and one thing I’ve always made sure of is to keep the place in order. The first little sign of decay … and it’s dealt with. Costs less that way. You understand? Of course you do. Over the years the Landowers have thrown up some feckless characters like old Jonas. Drink, women, gambling … The Landower pattern. Tressidors have had their old reprobates, but on the whole we’re a sober lot … compared with the Landowers, that is.”
    “They helped us with our luggage,” I told her. “Miss Bell was grateful.”
    “Oh yes, very mannerly. Interested, too, in what goes on here. Opportunists, that’s what they are. Always have been. Old Jonas thought he could retrieve the family fortunes at the gaming tables. Fools’ game that. Did you know anyone who was ever successful that way? Of course not. Always ready to take the main chance. Turncoats. Even in the Civil War they were for the King in the beginning as most of us were in these parts, and when the King lost, the Landowers were for the Parliament. We suffered a bit at Tressidor then and they prospered.” She gave the bark which punctuated her speech and which I was beginning to wait for. “Then the new King came back and they discovered that they were royalist after all. But that put us forward. However, they secured their pardon and managed to hang on to their estates. Opportunists. Now, of course, there are rumours. Well, we shall see.”
    “It all sounds most exciting, Cousin Mary.”
    “Life usually is when you take an interest in it. You’ve discovered that, haven’t you? Of course you have. Well, my dear, you’re going to have a little holiday here. You’re going to learn something of what it is like to live in the heart of the country … that is right away from the capital. This is Cornwall.”
    “The countryside seemed very beautiful. I’m longing to explore.”
    “I always think this is the most beautiful part of the Duchy. We’ve got a touch of lush Devonshire and the beginnings of the rugged coast of Cornwall. When you get farther west it gets wilder, more stark, less cosy. You ride, don’t you? Of course you do. There are horses in the stables.”
    I said: “We rode a good deal in the country and even in London.”
    “Well, that’s the best way of getting around. You’ll amuse yourself all right. Don’t stray too far at first and take a note of your bearings. I’ll go round with you until you get to know your way a little. You have to be careful of the mists. They spring up suddenly and you can easily get lost and go round in circles. The moors are not far off. I should stay away from them at first. Keep to the roads. But, as I say,