Read Online The Highwayman's Daughter by Henriette Gyland - Free Book Online

came back to him again and again, because he had a reputation for not squeezing his customers. Instead he allowed them ample time to pay off their debt, unlike some of the other local moneylenders, who were known for resorting to violent methods should the money not be forthcoming on the due date.
    Less well-known was Isaacs’ sideline as purveyor of stolen goods. With his numerous contacts in London an item bought by Mr Isaacs would disappear within a day. Still, it was a risky enterprise, and he closed the curtain firmly behind them before offering Cora a seat. He sat down on the opposite side of a narrow desk, which carried a blackened burn mark in one corner, and draped a square of protective felt over it.
    Cora lifted the cloth in her basket aside and placed the two fob watches, the ring and the luxurious silk waistcoat on the desk before him.
    Mr Isaacs raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ve heard tales of a young rascally fellow stripping one victim naked and scalping another. Of course, I took them to be exaggerations, although I thought they carried the hallmarks of your, er – shall we say – handiwork. Does your father know?’
    ‘He suspects.’
    Mr Isaacs sucked his teeth. ‘How
is
your father, by the way?’
    ‘His cough is plaguing him, and the medicine is costly.’
    ‘May God watch over him.’
    ‘Let’s hope so.’
Please don’t take Ned away,
she thought.
He’s all I have.
    Mr Isaacs reached across the desk and patted Cora’s hand. ‘You’re a good girl. Now, let’s take a look at what you’ve brought.’
    He examined the fob watches carefully, turning them this way and that in the light from a high window behind him. Then he studied the ring with the help of an optical device which made his eye appear enormous. ‘Lovely, lovely,’ he said. ‘This should be easy enough to sell on. An exquisite piece of jewellery but not too distinct. The same goes for one of the fob watches, but the other is engraved, which makes it more difficult. Here, see for yourself.’
    He passed the watch to Cora. She turned it over and read the inscription on the back. ‘To dearest Jack. Your loving Alethea’. She knew which of the two men this watch had belonged to – the handsome one whose queue she had sheared off – but who was Alethea? His betrothed? His wife? She felt a warm flush spread across her cheeks and returned the watch to the table; it suddenly felt too hot in her hand. Irrational though it was, she was beset by an absurd feeling of jealousy that raged and curdled in her chest until she was able to calm herself.
    Mr Isaacs was watching her closely, as if he could read her mind. It was an uncomfortable thought and briskly she returned to the business in hand.
    ‘What about the waistcoat?’
    Mr Isaacs shrugged. ‘As for the waistcoat, although it’s a very fine garment indeed, it isn’t the sort of thing my associates in London deal in. Selling it around here could prove difficult as it’s too recognisable, but I do know a seamstress who can fashion it into a set of ladies’ reticules.’
    Cora ran her hand over the fine fabric. It seemed a shame to cut it up. Also, it would mean the involvement of yet another person, and however trustworthy this seamstress might be, Cora decided to err on the side of caution.
    ‘I’ll hold on to it for the time being, then,’ she said. ‘As well as the engraved watch.’
    Mr Isaacs shook his head lightly and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like an oath. ‘Have a care, Cora. If you’re caught with these items, you’ll be transported. Or worse. And who will then visit an old man like me, eh?’
    ‘I’m very careful,’ she said, but her own words of reassurance couldn’t prevent a cold feeling from stealing over her. ‘And I’ll always visit you.’
    Besides, she had just had an idea for a completely different use for the waistcoat, one which might cause some speculation, but it was the least she could do for a man who treated her as a