Gwendolyn was the attractive wife of a wealthy seagoing merchant (Pirate to you and me.). When he failed to return from an expedition financed by some wealthy but ruthless associates, Gwendolyn, his beautiful young wife, was taken as payment for the debt.
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The beautiful Gwendolyn Alder was seated totally naked on the bed in the small room. She was weeping softly, her spirit broken; her world of luxury and plenty had suddenly crashed around her. Only a few months ago, she was a respected member of Abbotsford society. Gwendolyn was the beautiful young wife of Eric Alder, a seagoing merchant or privateer. The couple had arrived in Abbotsford about two years ago to settle down and start a new life after several many adventure filled years sailing the high seas and plundering the treasures of the New World. With their wealth Eric and Gwendolyn had purchased a large house on the outskirts of Abbotsford called Windfell Hall.
With some reluctance Eric had given up his seagoing days and moved in the Hall, Gwendolyn was pleased to have a home of her own at last and was happy to settle down and maybe even begin to raise a family.
When stories of their undisputed wealth circulated the area anybody who was anybody had clamored to get to know the attractive young couple. They were soon high on the list for being invited to all the best social gatherings and they themselves in return gave lavish parties. The problem was that Eric was good at doing what he did best: captaining a ship, exploring new worlds, pillaging the Spanish and French ships and bringing back the treasures that he found, but he was not so good as a business man and the many unscrupulous elements in the local society soon took advantage of his lack of business acumen.
As their wealth quickly diminished, Eric was getting to the position where he needed to restore his wealth. This meant taking to the high seas again, his so called friends saw the opportunity to make even more money from him and were quick to offer investment in the new venture, providing funds for him to equip and crew an even larger ship.
Gwendolyn much to Eric's disappointment decided that she was happy in her new home and decide that she had had enough sailing the high seas and so decided to stay at home in Windfell Hall and await his return. Even so she was feeling quite sad as she stood on the quayside with some of the other investors and waved her good-byes as she watched The Black Witch, her husband's ship sailed off on the evening tide. What she didn't realise at that moment was that it would be several years before she ever saw him again.
For the first year or so of Eric's trip Gwendolyn was able to keep up her life style, but when her husband did not return and her dwindling funds rapidly diminished, she first had to cut back on her household staff, and then reluctantly make cut backs in her expensive and indulgent life style.
At first, her so called friends stood by her, but as the months and then years passed by and there was no sign of Eric returning; even the more trusted ones began to turn their back on her. The unscrupulous bankers and traders who had loaned her money on the strength of her husband's return with more wealth soon began to demand their money back, and when she couldn't repay it, they began to make moves to repossess her property.
The leader and instigator of this group was one Ezra McIntyre, a mean old miser who from the moment her first set eyes on the delightful Gwendolyn had designs on the young beauty's more intimate treasures as well as the returns on his investment in her husband. Things came to a head two years after Eric had sailed away. Two of Ezra's men arrived at Windfell Hall in a carriage and told Gwendolyn to come with them.
At first she was reluctant but they persuaded her that it was in her interest and in the end they led her out to the carriage and drove her back to Ezra's large mansion.
The men handed over to Ezra's manservant, Manners, who escorted her into the large library. Ezra was standing with his back to the fire. He smiled and nodded when she walked in. "Come in, come in, my child; make yourself comfortable. Can Manners get you a drink of something?" Gwendolyn shook her head she wanted to get this interview over so Ezra waved the old manservant away.
"You've been brought here because of your escalating debt problem. We don't know what's happened to your husband. He ought to have been back months ago. Now things are getting serious and something needs to be done about it."
Gwendolyn smiled nervously. "I'm sorry, but what can I do? I've been as frugal as I can, but there is nothing more I can do until Eric returns."
Ezra shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not good enough. We need to do something now. My friends need a return on their money that they entrusted to your husband."
She shrugged. "I'm sorry for them but what more can I do?"
Ezra smiled. "Well, that's up to you, my child. An attractive woman like you can always find ways of extending her credit." Ezra looked at her meaningfully.
Gwendolyn had an idea what he was getting at she had often seen the lustful way he looked at her and she was a woman of the world, but she dismissed it. Surely In her position, such a thing was unthinkable, or was it? She shuddered at the thought.
"I must speak to you seriously about this matter," said Ezra, looking grave. "I have met with the other creditors, and they have agreed with me that if there is no news of your husband by the end of the month, then you will have to be held responsible for his debts."
"But I have nothing to pay you with," moaned Gwendolyn. "Everything I had is gone."
Ezra smiled a sickening smile and looked at her. "Not quite everything, my lovely."
With the sight of his grinning face still in her head, she was driven back home. The end of the month came all too soon for Gwendolyn, and there was still no news of Eric. On the first of the month, Ezra's coachman again arrived to collect her and she was escorted once more to Ezra's mansion. This time when she was taken into the library, Ezra was seated at his large ornate desk and to Gwendolyn's discomfort the four other major investors were also there.