@@@@@ Eighty thousand pounds he'd paid, more than
@@@@@
Eighty thousand pounds he'd paid, more than half hismony, enough to
buy
all the land in County Meathhe was a he'd always been a fool, the
man never had any sense at all, when they were boys together he'd
known
itBut demme, he'd Arthur like a brother even if he was a foolNo
man ever had a friend than Arthur was to him
Ne had wept, yes, ma'am, acú wept when Arthur hanged himself
Ne'd
always known he was a fool, but who could have dreamed he'd be
such a
fool as that? Arthur loved that place, he gave his shirt to it, and in
the end his lifeIt was criminal that Constance abandoned it the way
she didShe should have preserved it as a memorial to ArthurThe
marquess was grateful to Scarlett for doing what Arthur's own widow
didn't have the decency to do"I'd like to shake your hand again,
Mistress O'hara Scarlett surrendered it to himWhat was this old
man telling her? The young lord of Ballyhara hadn't hanged himself, a
man from the town had dragged him to the tower and hung himThe marquess must be wrongOld people got things mixed
up
in their memories Ne'd only been a child, he
only knew what people said, he wasn't even in Ballyhara then, the
family was at AdamstownThe marquess wasn't in Ballyhara either,
he
only knew what people said
It's all too complicated
Scarlett smiled sweetly at the marquess and retrieved her handShe
tucked it in Morland's elbow"Bart, I'm so glad to see youI looked
for you at every single party of the Season and never found you
"I passed this yearTwo mares in foal outrank a viceroy every time
Now have you been?" It had been an aeon since she'd last seen him,
and
so much had happenedScarlett hardly knew where to begi