Then she ended her letter,
“I love you, Papa, and I want to spend my fortune exactly as you and Mama would want me to do, but I really do have to think very carefully about it.
Please don’t be angry with me and let me have just a little time to myself.
Your very loving and affectionate daughter,
Odela.”
She felt that her father would understand.
At the same time she was absolutely certain that her stepmother would not.
‘She will try to force me back,’ she thought, ‘and then I shall be in her power.’
Every instinct in her body had told her last night how dangerous the situation now was.
She only had to look round the house to realise the changes that had been made and, behind every change and the smooth-running perfection of it all, was a strong personality.
There was nothing soft
