Page 43 of The Mad Marchams

“I’ve already eaten.” She took the chair opposite him and checked to see that there was no one lurking in the hall. “I want to ask you for a favor.”

“What do you need?”

“Do you have a check book for the estate?”

“Yes, but if you’re planning on robbing me, you’re out of luck. We’re barely breaking even right now.”

“Do you have any spare deposit slips?”

He stopped eating, sat back, and stared at her. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because there’s a small loan that needs paying back before the bank will give Colin a bigger one.”

“So, you want to pay it off?”

“Yes.”

“What does Colin think about that?” Freddy asked.

“He doesn’t know.”

“So basically, you want to go behind his back.”

“Would that be bad? I just want him to get the big loan and not have to worry about his stupid grandfather’s inability to pay bills.”

Freddy set down his fork. “Mabel, with the greatest of respect, if you went behind Colin’s back and paid off that loan, and he found out—which he would—he’d never trust you again.”

“Trust her again with what?”

Colin’s voice sounded from the doorway and Mabel cringed and slowly turned to look at him. How much of their conversation had he heard? She’d never seen him look so furious in her life.

“Are you trying to talk Mabel into some mischief, Freddy?”

“Heck no!” Freddy looked affronted. “I was just trying to talk her out of it! But thanks for the vote of confidence.” He stood up, glared at them both and walked out.

Mabel sighed. “It was all my fault, Colin. Freddy’s right. He was trying to talk me out of doing something stupid.”

“Doing what exactly?”

Gone was her smiling, charming boyfriend and in his place was a full-blown aristocrat looking down his nose at her.

She dug in her pocket and brought out the note. “One of your father’s friends works at your bank and last night he called your father about the loan. Bartle asked me to give you this from your father.”

He held out his hand, took the note and read it.

“Dammit to hell,” Colin muttered

“I didn’t mean to read it, but I did and couldn’t take the knowledge back.” Mabel considered what to say next. “I thought it was unfair that your hopes of getting a loan to save the house would be ruined by some stupid ancestor of yours failing to pay his debts. So, I thought I’d pay it.”

He continued to stare at her. “Go on.”

“I knew I couldn’t just walk up to the bank and that I needed access to your account. I asked Bartle and Freddy if they had any deposit slips.”

“Ah.”

“Both of them said I should just tell you what I wanted to do.”

“They were correct.” He folded the note into a precise square and placed it in his pocket, avoiding her gaze.