Free Wheel of Fate by Kate Sedley

the newcomer was much younger. I judged him to be in his early forties and there was, as yet, very little grey in his dark hair; but his eyes were the same blue beneath the same thick black eyebrows and he had the beak-like nose of his sisters. He was perhaps an inch or so taller with the older woman’s upright bearing; and, as with Clemency, this made his height seem greater than it actually was.
    â€˜There is a girl in the garden,’ he said in a high complaining tone, ‘running around and shouting and encouraging Nicholas to do the same.’ He turned to Adela. ‘Cousin, I told you that I had no objection to your remaining here as long as the children were quiet and well-behaved. Who is this hoyden and where has she come from?’
    Seeing from my expression that I was about to come to Elizabeth’s defence in no uncertain terms, Adela interposed hurriedly, ‘I’m sorry, cousin. It’s my stepdaughter. She has just arrived and she and Nick are so pleased to see one another that I’m afraid they have let their high spirits get the better of them. I’ll go and speak to them.’
    â€˜How has she arrived?’ the man demanded, barring Adela’s way.
    â€˜What? Oh . . . My husband brought her. Oswald, this is Roger. Roger, this is my cousin, Oswald Godslove.’
    I made my bow, but not a very deep one. There was something about the lawyer to which I took an instant dislike. Something precise and old-womanish in his manner that irritated me and I felt no surprise that he was unmarried and still, in middle-age, living at home with his sisters, who no doubt petted and spoiled him. Indeed, Clemency was clucking with alarm that his homecoming had been disturbed by my noisy daughter and worrying that dinner had been delayed and was not already on the table. But her brother had finally noticed Sybilla and hastened forward to support her in his arms.
    â€˜What is she doing out of bed?’ he asked angrily. ‘Someone should have been sent to watch her. She is not yet fit to be up, Adela!’
    His tone was sharp and he looked over his shoulder evidently to admonish my wife, but fortunately she had gone to bring in the children from the garden. This was just as well, because if these cousins of hers were treating her as an unpaid servant they would soon get the rough side of my tongue. I was in any case beginning to feel uncomfortable and had decided that no reason Adela could adduce would persuade me to remain in this house. We would go this very afternoon to find Jack at the Boar’s Head in East Cheap and be back in Bristol within the week.
    I said as much to Adela when she reappeared with a much chastened Nicholas and Elizabeth, who had obviously been severely taken to task for their unruly behaviour. We had the hall to ourselves, Oswald having supported Sybilla upstairs to bed and Clemency having vanished through one of the side doors, presumably to hurry along the arrival of dinner.
    â€˜No, no, Roger!’ my wife exclaimed, clutching my arm. ‘We can’t do that. They are in such trouble and you are the very person to sort it out, to discover what is going on. I can’t desert them. They have been so good to me, allowing the boys and me to stay here. As for Oswald, his bark is worse than his bite, and so long as Bess and Nick restrain their natural exuberance now that they’re together again, we shall do very well. Adam has grown to be so good these last weeks, you’d hardly know him.’ Here, I exchanged glances with my younger child, who smirked at me and cast down his eyes, the picture of sainthood. I wasn’t fooled for a single instant. Adela went on, ‘It’s a pity you had to bring Hercules, though. None of them except Celia really cares for animals, so we must just try to keep him out of their way. I suppose Margaret wasn’t too happy about looking after him?’
    â€˜I didn’t ask her,’ I said