Eleanor. Sylvia Andrew
of feeling he had caused her. Now, it seemed, she was to see him every day, to be reminded every day of the unpleasant revelations in the interview with Mrs Anstey. And this was the man her mother trusted absolutely! What was she to do? She was desperate to talk to her mother, but waited until she saw Mr Guthrie’s carriage go down the drive towards the village before hurrying up to the main house.
‘You should have told me, Mama!’ she cried. ‘You should have told me that Guthrie was the man who had bought Stanyards!’
‘My dear child,’ said Mrs Southeran, justifiably perplexed. ‘You said quite categorically that you did not wish to know anything about Mr Guthrie! How was I to know that you did not mean it?’
‘I did mean it! That is to say, I meant it at the time, but if had known that this man Guthrie was the new owner I would have wanted to know!’
‘Eleanor, I am not sure I perfectly understand you. Did you or did you not say that you wished to hear nothing about the new owner, not even his name? Oh…I see! You met Mr Guthrie in London? Is that what you are trying to tell me? You have never mentioned him to me, surely?’
‘Yes, I…I met him in London. Oh, he’s a deceitful wretch! He knew all the time we were talking that he had bought my home, he even asked me about it, yet he never said a word! Why did you sell our home to such a man, Mama?’
‘I am convinced he will be good for Stanyards. Nothing you have so far said has changed that opinion.’
‘How can you be so blind? He is far from being the honourable man you think him!’
‘My dear child, it was perhaps not well done to conceal from you the fact that he had purchased Stanyards, but it was not dishonourable! Mr Guthrie has very good reason to keep his future home a secret from all but a small number of people.’
‘But how can you be so sure? Surely this passion for secrecy is, to say the least, suspicious? How long have you known him? A few weeks!’
‘I have known Mr Guthrie for most of his life.’
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