Dorothy Elbury – The Major and the Country Miss (страница 2)

Here the lawyer paused and, after clearing his throat, he laid the set of papers down on the desk and looked over the top of his spectacles at the still expectant faces in front of him.

‘At this point I am required to clear the room of all persons present, apart from the following…’

Then, in clear and precise tones, he proceeded to name Lady Fenton and her son Jeremy, followed by Marion and William Maitland. Then, having waited patiently until the last member of the departing group had vacated the room, he once again picked up his papers.

No one had spoken during this interval, Maitland merely raising his eyebrows questioningly at his mother, only to receive a puzzled shake of her head in return. Fenton, rapt in his own deep study, stared moodily about the room, impervious to the concerned expression on Lady Fenton’s face as she attempted to catch her son’s eye.

‘This part of the proceedings becomes somewhat unusual,’ Hornsey then continued. ‘Mr Billingham has put me in possession of certain facts, which he wishes to be kept within this small family circle. It concerns the rather delicate matter of his niece and ward, Melandra Billingham, now deceased, and the possible survival of the young lady’s child.’

‘Dear God!’

Lady Fenton let out a gasp and Hornsey’s professionally impassive face suddenly became the focus of attention of four pairs of astonished eyes.

‘Mr Billingham has required me to set in motion a thorough search to establish this child’s existence. He apparently felt himself responsible for having abandoned it at birth and has left instructions that the bulk of his wealth shall be passed to this child should it prove to have survived…’

‘No! No! I will not permit it!’

Fenton had risen to his feet, his face ashen.

‘I shall contest it! The old man must have been insane!’ Thrusting off his mother’s attempts to restrain him, he strode forwards and tried to wrench the paper from Hornsey’s hands.

‘It is quite legal, I assure you, sir,’ said Hornsey, savouring the moment. ‘My client was perfectly sane—his own physician has borne witness. Do you wish me to continue?’

Fenton threw himself down on to his chair and glared at the lawyer.

‘What does it matter—if we’re not to inherit!’

‘There are certain conditions, which may well affect you,’ Hornsey was quick to point out. ‘If the child is not discovered within a twelvemonth of today’s date, the money is to be divided equally between yourself and Mr William Maitland.’

‘And otherwise the damned brat gets the lot!’

‘Not at all. He will receive, as I said, the bulk of the fortune—which I believe now stands in the region of some £500,000, not including the revenues from the plantations—but if you are prepared to make yourself instrumental in the search for the child’s recovery you are to be awarded a one fourth share, as will your cousin Major Maitland, who, I understand, has already given his promise to assist in the search.’

He bowed his head towards Maitland, who smilingly nodded his acquiescence.

Fenton’s eyes narrowed as he considered the lawyer’s words.

‘What you are saying, then,’ he finally managed, ‘is that I stand to get a quarter if this bastard is found now and a half if he isn’t—but for that I will have to wait a whole year—is that it?’

‘That is more or less correct, sir,’ Hornsey said, enjoying this fleeting sensation of power. ‘I believe Mr Billingham was anxious to atone for his having abandoned his young ward in her—how shall I put it—hour of need.’

‘Never mind about that!’ interrupted Fenton. ‘Where is this child now? Good God—hardly a child—it’s over twenty years since Melly ran off with that French tutor chap! D’you mean to tell us that he’d put her in the family way?’

‘Since we’re discussing the possible existence of a son, that would seem to be a fairly obvious conclusion,’ his cousin pointed out, good-humouredly. ‘However, I, for one, would be most interested to hear something of the story—if you could just forbear from interrupting at every turn, Jerry!’

He motioned Hornsey to continue, but the lawyer shook his head dolefully and indicated the single sheet of paper in front of him.

‘Sadly, there is very little known of Miss Billingham’s movements after she absconded with her tutor—Mr Billingham apparently received a plea for assistance some months later. I understand he would have ignored this had it not been for his late wife’s insistence…?’

Seeing both Lady Fenton and Marion Maitland nodding at one another at this point, he invited her ladyship to elucidate.

‘Both Roger and Jane adored Melly,’ she said, ‘not having children of their own. They had brought the girl up since Henry—our older brother—and his wife Patricia were killed in that dreadful carriage accident, along with their two little boys.’

‘They spoilt her dreadfully,’ put in Maitland’s mother, ‘but Jane would have it that the child had, after all, lost her whole family and they were only trying to make up for that—but she became very headstrong, I remember.’

‘She was rather lovely, though,’ recalled Maitland, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes in reminiscence. ‘I can remember when she was about to make her come-out—her first drawing-room appearance, I believe, and Uncle Roger had invited us all to see her in her finery before they left. She looked like a princess in a fairytale—with her beautifully powdered hair, that white-and-silver crinoline and all those diamonds—I swear I fell in love with her on the spot!’

‘You were only six years old,’ his mother laughingly reminded him, ‘but it’s true, she was an exceedingly lovely girl. Unfortunately, she knew it and was terribly flirtatious, too. It’s always been my belief that Étienne never really stood a chance after he set eyes on her, poor man. I am convinced that their elopement must have been Melly’s idea—he wasn’t at all the sort of young man to suggest such a thing.’

‘He was only a miserable tutor,’ said Fenton scornfully. ‘Hardly top-drawer and not a penny to his name—his cuffs were always frayed, as I recall.’

He viewed his own pristine cuffs with pride and flicked a non-existent fleck from his coat sleeve.

‘No, Jeremy, you’re quite wrong there,’ said Mrs Maitland, shaking her head. ‘He came from a most aristocratic family. They had fled the Terrors, of course, and he was forced to make his own way in the world. I always found him to be a perfect gentleman and I was very surprised to learn that he had abandoned Melly.’

Jeremy Fenton leaned forwards impatiently.

‘Let’s get back to that,’ he said. ‘Uncle Roger presumably answered her cry for help?’

His mother nodded. ‘He went off into the wilds of Warwickshire somewhere,’ she explained. ‘Jane had persuaded him to fetch Melandra home—whatever situation he found her to be in—but he returned two days later and told us all that she was dead.’

She paused momentarily, her brow wrinkling in pensive remembrance of the stark, angry expression on her brother’s face as he had curtly informed his shocked family of their niece’s death. ‘He made no mention of a child, however, nor do I recall the whereabouts of his destination. He always refused to speak of it.’

‘His own recollection was merely that the building itself was reached by a long driveway with lime trees on either side,’ offered Hornsey, once more perusing his papers. ‘And, also he believed that the hotel he stayed in was a coaching inn in the market town of Dunchurch—I understand that this town is situated on the London Road, somewhere in the vicinity of Coventry.’

Maitland digested this information.

‘She must have been buried, you know,’ he observed. ‘There will be parish registers. It should not be too difficult to discover her last resting place—she had a most unusual name, remember. There can’t be many Melandra Billinghams recorded as having died in—when was it—1795, I suppose?’

‘You really intend to seek out this bastard, then?’ Fenton, rising, eyed Maitland curiously. ‘Said you weren’t interested in Billingham’s fortune—changed your tune now you know how much there is to gain, eh?’

Maitland also rose to his feet, facing his cousin squarely. The two were of equal height, but Maitland had the weight, his shoulders and limbs needing no tailor’s assistance to fill out his coats and trousers and his clear grey eyes were unspoiled by the reckless dissipation that marred the older man’s.

‘I shall do you the service of ignoring that remark, Jerry,’ he said carefully. ‘I gave Uncle Roger my promise and I intend to do my best to find out what became of Melandra’s child. If you wish to join me you will, of course, be welcome—but I advise you to keep such opinions to yourself, otherwise I may well forget that you are my kinsman!’

Jeremy Fenton’s handsome face flushed slightly as, with a self-conscious laugh, he lowered his eyes.

‘No offence, Will,’ he stammered. ‘Of course I shall accompany you—I bow to your military efficiency—I should hardly know where to begin! When are we to set off on this quest, may I ask? I shall require several days to settle certain—matters—and my man Pringle will need time to see to my wardrobe…’