Free A Prudent Match by Laura Matthews Page A

doorway having a chat with the dry goods clerk from down the way. She looked surprised at his passing by, but Ledbetter was determined to attend to business first. And business, in this instance, was the village church.
    He dismounted close to the wooden doors with their heavy iron handles. The vicar might be in the building, or he might be in the vicarage, but Ledbetter preferred to investigate the church first. For one thing, he wished to see if his mother's instructions had been properly carried out.
    Though the day was reasonably bright outdoors, Ledbetter found the interior of the church as gloomy as it had always been. There were too few windows, and those there were contained murky glass which served only to smudge out any light attempting to reach the interior.
    Still, there was sufficient light to see the organ. Ledbetter shook his head at the folly of it. It was a magnificent organ, with series upon series of pipes, a gleaming keyboard, an upholstered stool for the organist. But its size was totally disproportionate to the small church. No finer instrument could have been found in the entire county, despite the fact that there were churches ten times the size of that in Forstairs. Lord, Ledbetter thought, the sound must batter the eardrums of every congregant, to say nothing of the rest of the village.
    And to what purpose? In a cathedral the organ might have given pleasure to its listeners. The hymns played on it might have uplifted the hearts and souls of worshippers. But here? In Forstairs? What could his mother have been thinking of?
    “So, what do you think of our organ, Lord Ledbetter?” a voice behind him asked with a rather heavy Yorkshire accent.
    Ledbetter composed his features before turning to face the vicar. “I think it is entirely too large for the church, Mr. Hidgely.”
    The vicar regarded him with surprise. “But it is what your dear mama wished, sir. She was quite explicit in her will.”
    “Yes, she was,” the baron agreed after a thoughtful pause. “Surprisingly explicit, I have always thought.”
    “Dear Lady Ledbetter was a very active member of the church, but the rest of her family has not always followed her lead. For many years she had wished to see the old organ replaced. She made quite a study of organs during her last year.”
    All very true, unfortunately. Ledbetter had found information about organs in half the drawers in his mother's desk. She had, it appeared, become quite obsessed with them during her last months. There were replies from manufacturers and London organists answering questions she had obviously posed to them. And he knew for a fact that she enjoyed organ music. But this—this huge organ was a travesty. Surely she had known that the small village church needed a much smaller instrument.
     “A great pity that her study had such an unfortunate result.” Ledbetter reached into the inside pocket of his coat and extracted an envelope. “You will find the balance of the funds covered by this draft, Mr. Hidgely. Though I don't myself believe it was necessary to interpret my mother's legacy as encompassing the rebuilding of that portion of your church which had formerly housed the old organ, I won't quibble with your having done so.”
    “We could not very well have got such a large instrument inside without rebuilding, my lord,” the vicar protested. He surreptitiously inspected the figure on the draft and smiled. “We have done precisely what your sainted mother wished, and accomplished it in the year since her death, as she requested. I trust you will be attending the dedication on Sunday.”
    Ledbetter was tempted to offer an excuse, but knew better than to do so. “Yes, I'll be here—with my wife.”
    Mr. Hidgely frowned. “Your wife? I had no idea you had married. My felicitations, of course.”
    “Thank you.” Ledbetter took one last look at the organ before turning to leave. “Sunday, then, Hidgely. I trust you have found someone to play