Charity Girl Part III

Ashley wonders if he could persuade Miss Fletching, headmistress of Cherry's old school, to give her a home. He would be willing to pay an allowance to keep her, but it would look very odd if it leaked out that he was paying for the upkeep of a girl who is no relation of his. Cary Nethercott is still visiting Hetta. Ashley gets irritated with the man. He is kind and pleasant but rather stuffy. He too feels very sorry for Cherry. Lord Wroxton pays a visit to the Silverdales, to see what the girl is like, having heard about Ashley becoming her champion. He can see that she is nothing like her dishonest father or her spiteful old grandfather. He feels some admiration for his son, having thought for a long time that Ashley showed little sign of responsibility. But now he is working hard to help someone. He tells his wife that his son is becoming more sensible. If Ashley would get married and settle down, he would hand over a smaller estate, Hartsleigh to him. Lady Wroxton can see that Ashley is moving from friendship towards Hetta to being in love with her. Simon, Ashley's brother, receives a visitor, who turns out to be Cherry's errant father, Wilfred. Wilfred is clearly an outrageous con man. He claims that he had to leave England because of money and legal troubles. Some of his activities include trying to raise money on post obit bonds, and getting young men drunk when they played cards so that he could win money from them. Now, he is back to look after his daughter - or so he claims. However, when he learns that Ashley has involved himself in Cherry's affairs, he begins to make accusations. He claims that the young man is trying to seduce his daughter and that he will insist that they get married. Angry and unsure what to do, Simon tells Steane that Ashley took Cherry to stay with Hetta for safety and because he is engaged to her..... then he has to dash off to Hetta's home to let her know that he has told this fib.