Ann felt her breath becoming short. She was panting now. She leant forward over the page, her eyes open wide.

Once everything is settled, I shall send word to the children and shall arrange for them to be sent over to join me.

Over my dead body!

There is talk of a university being established in Hobart so perhaps James could attend there for further study.

And what about your daughter? thought Ann.

I do not imagine I shall see you again, Ann, but I feel I owe you nothing. Your life would have been so different had I not rescued you from the gutter. In the meantime, there is a trust fund set up for the children. The mill shall continue as it is and you will have a share of the proceeds.

She skimmed over some lines on the mill ownership.

You may keep the house. Money will be placed in the bank account each month for the upkeep and the staff.

Yours,

Robert.

Ann collapsed back against the chair and stared at the heavy velvet drapes before her. She felt light-headed, as if drunk. What had he done to her, to them? What would she do? She felt tears starting to prick her eyes but she shook her head and sat up, pushing her shoulders back. How dare he. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and made her decision there and then. She resolved that no one would ever know the contents of the letter. Why should they? And as for his suggestion that he would take her children to some God-forsaken land at the other side of the world, well that would never happen. Not ever, she thought, strumming her fingers on the dressing table.

No, what would happen was this: she would become the grieving widow, it was the only solution. She would mourn outwards, while inwards she hoped the sense of injustice, the feeling of anger would one day dissipate.

Ann picked up all the pages, rushed over towards the fire and threw them in. She would tell Miss Graham and the Baxters that the letter was illegible, and now was the time to begin to grieve, for there was obviously no hope, her husband must have perished. She would say that even if a body was never found, she was to be alone, alone now with her children and together they would survive. She always did. She grasped the poker and prodded the paper in the grate, watching the last fragments of letter blacken then shrivel into ash.

CHAPTER 36

Chapter 36

2015