The Settling of Scores

Chapter 32

            "Sir Hollister to see you, Miss," Poole announced the next morning just as Priscilla finished her breakfast.

            "Show him in, Poole," Priscilla replied to her butler then steeled herself to see him and act as normal as she could toward the man.

            "Good morning, Brent," she said and smiled.

            "Good morning, Priscilla," Brent said and came to her chair and leaned down to kiss her offered cheek. "How was your trip?"

            "I enjoyed it very much," she replied. "Sit down and join me for breakfast if you haven't already eaten."

            "I have but I would take a cup of coffee," Brent said as he sat in a chair next to her. Poole saw to Hollister's cup of coffee then left them alone in her dinning room.

            "I was hoping you'd ride with me this morning," Brent told her.

            "I would like that," Priscilla answered. "I've missed our morning rides together."

            "I was afraid you and Covington would reconcile while you were away together at his niece's," Brent told her. "I've missed our rides, too."

            "I told you I have no intention of going back to Avery, Brent," Priscilla said. "Too much has happened in our past to make it possible for us to have any future together."

            "I cannot say I'm sorry about that," he told her smiling, "You know how I feel about you and I hope we have a future together."

            "I…I cannot think about a future until my divorce from Avery is final," she said as Poole entered the dinning room with a missive on a silver tray. Priscilla took the missive and opened it.

Dear Priscilla,

            I just finished looking at a photograph in the newspaper and I believe it is of a friend of mine, a Benjamin Lesserton. It stated that he was found unconscious on a highway near your town of Docking Green. It also says once he awakened he had no memory of who he is. I wondered if you could look at the man and tell me if he is my friend Mr. Lesserton? If he is I will arrange to travel to Docking Green and beg to impose on your hospitality to stay with you while I look after my friend until he's well enough to travel home.

            He is a man around sixty, has brown hair sprinkled with gray. Around six feet and I believe his eyes are green. Oh, yes, Priscilla, he has a large scar on his left wrist from an accident he had when he was a young man. It runs about three inches up his arm from his writs.

            I would be ever so grateful if you could look into this for me, dear girl. I hate to think of poor Mr. Lesserton alone in a strange place not knowing who he is and no one to care for him.

            Please to this as soon as possible for me, dear girl.

                                                                        Your Friend,

                                                            Lady Caroline Clairborne

                                                         Dower Countess of Eastridge

            "Oh my goodness," Priscilla exclaimed rising from the dinning table. "I…I'm afraid I cannot go riding with you this morning Brent after all. I have to see about something for a dear friend of mine."