CHAPTER SEVENNovella waited patiently outside her mother’s room while Doctor von Haydn was inside examining her.
With her stepfather’s words ringing in her ears, she eerily recalled how her old maid Sally had feared that both her and her mother’s lives were in danger.
What was it she said?
‘Lord Buckton will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Hall.’
‘Surely, he would not stoop to murder?’ she thought again, as she paced up and down the corridor. ‘Perhaps Mama’s illness has been brought upon her by some dastardly means!’
And so, Novella’s mind ran riot until the moment that Doctor von Haydn opened the door and beckoned her forth.
“My Lady, I am afraid it is not good news. Your mother has a tumour – quite a rare kind, too. It is on her lungs and I am afraid that it is too far gone
