Page 53 of A Kiss to Stop a Wedding
‘But why, how?’ said Flora. ‘I don’t understand. Papa worked for the government; he would not betray his friends or his country.’
‘Not knowingly,’ said her uncle. ‘Apparently, Mary was very fond of one of her Irish cousins and it was he who persuaded her to spy for the French. He moved to Deal, in Kent, in ninety-six and Mary wrote to him there regularly. Charles thought nothing of it—after all she was a long way from her home and all herfamily, it was only natural that she would correspond with a cousin.
‘Your father had an active role in government at the time, forever holding dinners for his political friends and allies with Mary as his hostess. She was passing on everything she heard at the dinner table.’
‘And there was plenty for her to tell,’ put in Aunt Farnleigh, bitterly. ‘Charles and his colleagues never considered that they would need to guard their tongues in front of his wife!’
‘Her cousin was only a go-between,’ added Mr Farnleigh. ‘Her letters were being smuggled across the Channel to his French masters. Then Charles began to suspect someone in his household was passing on secrets and when he mentioned it to Mary, she confessed the whole. It was quite deliberate, she had been revealing names, dates, places—details that could be very useful to the French. Charles realised it could only be a matter of time before the truth came out.’
Aunt Farnleigh nodded. ‘That was when he came to us. The Treaty of Amiens had just been signed and he wanted to take your mother to France, where she had been promised sanctuary. He asked if we could give you a home.’
‘Youknewthey would not be coming back?’ asked Flora.
She remembered it so vividly. She had been ten years old, excited to be spending a few weeks with heraunt and uncle while Mama and Papa enjoyed an excursion to France. They had all been so happy, talking of what they would do when they were back together again. It had all been a pretence.
‘Oh, my love, it was such a difficult time,’ said Aunt Farnleigh, wiping her eyes. ‘My brother loved Mary so much, he could not bear to leave her.’
Suddenly Flora felt very much like a child again.
‘Why did they not take me, too?’ she asked, in a small voice.
Her uncle was looking uncomfortable, frowning and biting his lip as he struggled to find the words to explain.
‘There were already rumours in Whitehall, Flora. It had to appear as if he and Mary were off on a short jaunt. Leaving their beloved daughter behind was the perfect bluff.’
Flora’s world was collapsing around her. She gripped her hands together. She wanted to weep, or scream.
‘How could they?’ she whispered. ‘How could they abandon me?’ She shook her head. ‘Papa was always very busy, but Mama was with me constantly. How could she? How could she desert her own child?’
‘Oh, my dear, it was a very dangerous situation, you must believe that,’ said her uncle, begging her to understand. ‘Mary knew she had destroyed your father’s career, that they must give up the life they had known. As for Charles, he was distraught. Mary’s treacherymight be discovered at any moment and he wanted to do the best for you both. She would have been executed if she had been caught, so he knew he must get her out of the country, but he could not bring himself to subject you to the hardships and difficulties he knew they would face in France.’
That would have been nothing to me, compared to losing my parents.
‘Instead, he used me,’ she muttered. ‘I was a pawn, sacrificed for their safety.’
Uncle Farnleigh shook his head. ‘Leaving you behind broke their hearts, believe me.’
‘Yes, yes,’ cried her aunt. ‘Your mama never forgot to take her pearls, Flora. She left them for you. With instructions that we were to give them to you on your eighteenth birthday, the age she was when she married your father.’
‘But you were never going to tell me that, were you?’
‘How could we?’
Aunt Farnleigh began to weep and Flora closed her eyes, wondering how she would ever live with the pain of it.
‘We were all four of us guilty of deceiving you, Flora,’ said her uncle. ‘I am so very sorry.’
‘Everything you told me then was false,’ she said. ‘A ruse to convince me and the world that they were coming back.’
‘Yes.’ Aunt Farnleigh dabbed her eyes. ‘But then weheard about the accident and, well, we were so thankful that you were safe with us.’
The tears burning Flora’s eyes could no longer be held back and she gave a sob as they spilled over. With a cry Aunt Farnleigh flew across the room to sit beside her.
‘Oh, no, no, my love, do not weep.’ She put her arms about Flora. ‘We loved you every bit as much as your parents. They knew we would bring you up as our own.’
It was a blessed relief to allow the tears to fall, but Flora only indulged for a few moments. There were still so many questions and time was short.
‘Why did you not tell me?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.
