Free A Woman's Estate by Roberta Gellis Page B

that, in her
favorite chair, but he felt perhaps it would have been more diplomatic not to
admit it.
    A gasp of sound, half sob, half laugh, drew Abigail’s eyes
from Victor’s revealing expression to Griselda, who, she saw, was as
white-faced as she herself must be, but who had just realized why Victor wanted
the toad. Knowing her son, Abigail had been in no doubt about his purpose from
the beginning, although her simple prayer of thanksgiving had not, of course,
referred to the escape of the toad or to being spared Hilda’s fury.
    “I almost fell down too, I was so surprised,” Daphne said
quickly, loyally trying to distract her mother from her brother’s unwise
honesty. “I had just stopped to pick some flowers—” She hesitated, fearing she
might have offended Griselda, who, she knew, was in charge of the gardens. “Not
that I don’t like your flowers,” she said to Griselda. “They are very
beautiful, but in the woods—”
    “One must pick flowers. I understand,” Griselda assured her
with the first smile Abigail had seen. The smile surprised Abigail, as did the
calm tone of voice. Now that Abigail’s shock had diminished enough for her to
think about anything other than Victor’s narrow escape, she realized she would
have expected gasps and shrieks from Griselda. There might be more to Griselda
than Abigail had believed. Her good opinion was reinforced when Griselda went
on, very casually, “I hope the noise did not frighten you very much.”
    “Not really,” Daphne replied. “I have heard shooting
before.”
    Daphne spoke in an old-young way that always caused
Abigail’s heart to ache because it told her she had not been successful in
shielding the child from her father’s weaknesses or her own frustration, pity
and disgust. But the next moment the too adult voice and manner disappeared as Daphne’s
eyes widened in remembered excitement.
    “But when Vic’s coat flew up in the air,” she went on, “and
he fell down on the ground, I did get scared. I screamed and screamed.” She
giggled and shrugged. “And then Vic got up and yelled at me for being such an
idiot, because screaming was useless and what I should have done was—” Daphne’s
voice stopped abruptly as she remembered she was supposed to be diverting her
mother’s attention from the toad, and she knew her brother’s fury because she
had not marked where the creature had gone was not likely to win much sympathy
from either adult. “Anyhow, we were both pretty angry at that hunter, shooting
so close to a house, and when Vic picked up his coat and saw the shot holes,
then we ran home as quickly as we could.”
    There was a murmur from the doorway, and Abigail realized
for the first time that they had an audience. Her attention had been so
concentrated on her children and her own battle to keep from terrifying them
that she had not noticed that Howing, Empson, a maid and two footmen were
crowded around the entrance to the breakfast parlor.
    “Would someone please arrange for the outside men, the
gamekeepers and anyone else who has a right to carry a gun on Lydden land, to
be gathered together so that I can speak to them?” Abigail said in an icy
voice. “I think it needs to be made clear that at least for the next few years
there will be no preserving on Lydden land, and no shooting of poachers for any reason.’“
    “Yes, my lady,” Empson answered, “I will send word out at
once. But, my lady, I’m sure as I can be that it was no Lydden gamekeeper that
shot at his lordship. You see, he probably wasn’t on Lydden land—or even if he
was, the wooded areas north and south of the house are tended by St. Eyre
people. Our men are all west, out past the mill and toward the river. It’s only
a few hundred feet past the lawns on either side of the house or behind it
that’s Lydden land, and it isn’t worth the keepers’ time to come all the way
around the park.”
    “What you are saying, then, is that it was one of St.