Page 45 of A Sense of Fate
Flora had intended to withstand his rant without interrupting but couldn’t allow that unfounded accusation to pass uncontested. ‘Can you not?’ she asked, raising one brow in cynical disbelief.
‘I cannot force you to behave with decorum,’ he continued, talking over her interruption, ‘but I cannot and will not permit your sister to follow your example.’ He thumped the arm of his chair so emphatically that he must have hurt his fist. ‘It doesn’t seem to give you a moment’s concern to have dishonoured your father and mother, thereby breaking one of the most sacred commandments.’ He lowered his voice when his tirade had no discernible effect upon Flora—outwardly at least. He still possessed the ability to terrify her but she had become more adept at disguising her reaction, particularly as he was so predictable. This was an old refrain, designed to invoke her guilt, which it sometimes did, but it no longer possessed the power to affect her conscience. ‘You may do as you please. I wash my hands of you.’
‘You offered me that assurance once before, but it hasn’t prevented you from attempting to influence my behaviour ever since.’
Once again he ignored her comment and continued to pontificate. Flora wondered if anyone had ever dared tell him how ridiculously pompous he sounded when he adopted the moral high ground, a situation to which he was far from entitled. Her father automatically assumed that his calling qualified him to have an opinion that was worth listening to, and that no one would dare to openly disagree with him; especially not members of his own family. He had yet to come to terms with the fact that Flora did dare.
‘You are a lost cause, but your sister is not,’ he said, his voice booming with authority, as though addressing her from the pulpit. ‘I shall be taking her back to Salisbury with me today. Call her down and be done with it.’
‘All well and good, but she doesn’t want to go.’
‘I am perfectly sure that she does not. She will not be the first woman in creation to be tempted, quite literally, by forbidden fruit.’
Flora gave a caustic laugh. ‘Do you honestly choose to believe that Melanie left home because I somehow persuaded her to?’ She shook her head. ‘This is not the first demonstration of your selective memory that I have endured. As to Melanie, I have barely seen her since I left Salisbury.’
‘Ever since your sister’s wedding, you are the only person she has been able to speak about. She is fascinated by you.’
‘And what does that tell you about the dreary nature of her home life?’ Flora replied, struggling to remain calm. As always, her father was attempting to deflect the blame from his own shoulders by transferring it to hers, but this time it wouldn’t serve. ‘Obedience has been drummed into her, as it was into us all. I happen to know that it takes an extreme effort of will to defy parental authority.’ She fixed her father with a castigating look. ‘I certainly wouldn’t have found either the courage or the strength to do so when I was Melanie’s age.’ She paused, hands folded neatly in her lap, confronting her father’s stony expression. ‘And we both know what pushed her over the edge.’ Flora shook her head. ‘Such cruelty. I wouldn’t have thought even you capable of it, and you are capable of many things. You went too far, for no reason, and you could have seriously injured her.’
His head jerked up and fear momentarily flashed through his expression. ‘What has she told you?’
‘The truth. I have seen her injuries with my own eyes, Father, and I have treated them. The welts from the beating you inflicted on her had become infected and were weeping. The blisters from the burns you gave her by holding her hand over a candle had burst and she was in agony. She fled to my house not because she wanted to be with me, but because she wanted to be free of you and could think of nowhere else to go. She was brought to me shivering in the darkness, soaked to the skin in a blizzard in the back of a cart. And now you want her back. Why? So you can do the same thing again when the feeling takes you? Your temper appears to be getting the better of you with the advancing years. You never whipped me quitethatviciously and certainly never held my hand over a naked flame.’
Her father had the grace to drop his gaze, but only momentarily. When he looked up again, his expression had turned defiant. ‘She has strayed from the path of righteousness. I was too lenient when I observed your deviation. I cannot allow Melanie to follow the same course.’ He pushed himself to his feet. ‘This discussion is over. Either call your sister down or I will go and find her. If I am forced to do so, neither of you will like the consequences.’
‘She is going nowhere. Not with you, not with anyone.’ Flora’s voice remained calm but had developed a flinty edge that clearly gave her father pause.
‘How dare you poison her mind with your rebellious ideas!’ Her father threw his arms into the air. ‘You Jezebel! Don’t think I am not aware of your disgusting arrangement with Lord Felsham. That a daughter of mine would flaunt herself in front of such a man.’ He shook his head. ‘I did not think that even you could fall so low.’
‘The only disgusting thing about my friendship with Lord Felsham is in your imagination, but I will not justify myself by explaining something that is none of your business.’
‘None of my business?’ His chest swelled like a bullfrog’s and his cheeks turned scarlet.
‘It would be a waste of my breath to try and convince you, since you have clearly made up your mind and found me guilty of a crime I haven’t committed.’
‘Everyone in this village knows you live beneath his protection.’ Flora flinched and her father flashed a cruel sneer. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t hear about it?’
‘There is nothing for you to hear. Don’t judge the rest of us by your own standards.’
‘Keep a civil tongue in your head and remember to whom you are speaking.’
The violence of his response implied that Flora had struck a chord, so she went with her instincts. ‘I am speaking to someone who burns children for his own amusement.’ Flora’s words came out in a hiss. ‘For the mildest of transgressions you beat poor Melanie’s thighs bloody, much as you did mine, yet you accuse me of being immoral.’ She sent him a scathing look. ‘How do you think your precious God would feel, watching you do that?’
‘I am authorised by Him to carry out His will.’
Flora’s tone was scathing. ‘How very convenient for you both. Please do not ever expect me to bow down to Him.’
‘Enough! Fetch Melanie at once. She is only just thirteen, young enough to be saved from your influence. She is my responsibility.’
‘Oh, I am aware that I have no legal right to keep my sister with me.’
‘Well then, there is nothing more to be said.’
‘I disagree. You hold the legal right, but I know what you did to my sister.’ She paused. ‘I wonder how the rest of the world would view that knowledge if it became public?’ Flora mused, plucking absently at her lower lip.
‘What do you mean?’
‘What I say. The Dean of Salisbury Cathedral torturing one of his own daughters, and for what? Overhearing a private conversation? The bishop would have a thing or two to say on that particular matter, I am sure—especially if I was to tell him you are convinced you were doing God’s work.’
