Free The Secret Woman by Victoria Holt

you a chance of paying me back and this is what you do. Bring strange men into the house as soon as my back’s turned. Your mother all over again… I shouldn’t wonder.”
    â€œHow dare you say such things. My mother was good, better than you could ever be. And I…”
    â€œAnd you are good, too? Oh, very good. Very good to young men who visit you when my back’s turned.”
    â€œStop it! Stop it!”
    â€œYou dare to order me in my house.”
    â€œI’ll go if you like.”
    â€œWhere to?”
    â€œI’ll find some post. I know something about antiques.”
    â€œWhich I have taught you.”
    â€œI could be a governess or a companion.”
    She laughed. “Oh yes, you’re very clever. I know. Has it occurred to you that you might owe me something? You might think about that. A fine fool you are. Making yourself cheap to the first man who comes along. And from that place too. I should have thought you would have known better where someone of that reputation is concerned.”
    â€œWhat reputation?”
    She chuckled. “You ought to select with more care. I can tell you that Captain Redvers Stretton has not a very good name in this town. He’s the sort who’s going to take his fun where he finds it. And I’ll daresay that he’s ready to try all sorts.”
    I could only cry: “Go away. I don’t want to hear what you have to say. I’ll leave here. If you want to get rid of me, if I’m such a burden…”
    â€œYou’re a rash and foolish girl,” she said. “You need me to look after you. Your father was my brother and I’ve got my duty. I’ll have a good talk to you in the morning. I’m worn out and my pain is terrible. I couldn’t sleep for thinking about you. I thought I’d speak to you tonight. But tomorrow perhaps you’ll be in a more contrite mood.”
    She turned and went out. I stared at the door. I was hurt and angry; the evening had changed. She had smirched it with her evil thoughts and her talk of his reputation. What did she mean by that? What did she know?
    And then suddenly there was a piercing scream and the heavy thud of something falling. I got out of bed and ran to the stairs.
    Aunt Charlotte was lying at the foot of that flight, groaning.
    I ran down. “Aunt Charlotte,” I said. “Are you hurt?”
    She did not answer; she was breathing heavily.
    I called Mrs. Morton and Ellen. Foolishly I tried to lift my aunt; I couldn’t, so I found a cushion and put it under her head.
    Mrs. Morton came hurrying. With her fine hair in curlers under a net she looked different, grim, excited.
    â€œMy aunt must have slipped coming down the stairs,” I said. I remembered warning Redvers.
    â€œAt this time of night,” said Mrs. Morton. She picked up the candle which Aunt Charlotte had dropped. There was the faintest moonlight shining through the window. Aunt Charlotte began to groan again.
    I said: “Put on your cloak, Ellen, and go and ask Dr. Elgin to come.”
    Ellen ran off and Mrs. Morton and I stayed with Aunt Charlotte.
    â€œHow did it happen?” asked Mrs. Morton. She looked rather pleased, I thought, and I imagined what it had been like traveling with Aunt Charlotte.
    â€œShe came to my room to talk to me and fell on the way back to her own.”
    â€œShe was in a rage, I daresay,” said Mrs. Morton.
    She looked at me obliquely; I realized that I had never understood Mrs. Morton at all. She seemed to be shut in with some secret life of her own. I wondered why she endured Aunt Charlotte’s tantrums. Surely she could have found more congenial employment elsewhere? I could think of no reason for her staying but that of Ellen: that she would be remembered in my aunt’s will if she were still in her employ.
    It seemed a long time before Ellen returned. Dr. Elgin would be with us shortly, she said.
    When he came he