Chapter 2
‘Five and forty thousand pounds?’ Bianca’s voice had risen to what was practically a shout.
It might be sadly unladylike, it might be inappropriate in this hushed legal setting, but it was surely excusable.
The Constantines were not wealthy… had not been wealthy.
Now, apparently, the sisters were all three of them actual heiresses.
‘Each,’ Mr Cotwin said drily. ‘That’s not a precise figure, of course.
Investments may go down as well as up, and of course the times are sadly uncertain, since the Corsican Despot has landed in France and overthrown the peace of the Continent once again.
But I would counsel you against making any rash and sudden changes.
Selling out of the Funds, and the like. We must have faith in Lord Wellington, and trust that the situation will stabilise in time. ’
Mr Cotwin was a spare little man in his late fifties, and his very pince-nez, perched on his beaky nose, exuded respectability, as did his ancient, panelled chamber, and its setting in a quiet cul-de-sac of Lincoln’s Inn.
He was surrounded by shelves of ancient leather-bound books, some of which perhaps he’d read, and he had ceremoniously poured them each a glass of sherry, which nobody but him was drinking.
‘How will all this be administered?’ Mrs Constantine did not seem intimidated by the legal gentleman, nor flattered by his deference to her. She wanted hard facts. If he showed her a golden coin, she’d probably grab it and bite it – while he watched in genteel horror – to check that it was real.
Mr Cotwin coughed. ‘Mrs Albery would much have preferred to place the inheritance directly in the young ladies’ control, or at least arrange that this should be the case once they have all come of age.
She would not countenance them waiting till they were all five and twenty or married, as might be thought traditional.
But she was persuaded to follow the custom of the land and appoint trustees to oversee matters.
Myself, my son James – who is a junior partner here – and also by her request the husbands of two of your elder daughters, Mrs Constantine.
I am, as it happens, acquainted with Mr Da Costa personally by way of business, and could vouch for him, and the former Miss Allegra Constantine’s husband is of course a public figure of known integrity.
Mrs Albery drew up her final testament, you should understand, several years ago, and made no alteration to it afterwards.
Naturally, the two gentlemen in question currently remain in ignorance of this proposed arrangement, at Mrs Albery’s insistence, but I can inform them now, and I presume that they will have no objection to undertaking the duty.
It is a family matter, after all, and should not be any great trouble to them. ’
‘I’m sure my brothers-in-law won’t mind in the least,’ Cecilia told him.
‘In fact, they will be delighted for us, Mr Cotwin. Even if they didn’t care at all for us – which I assure you they do – they must be aware that our new independence should relieve them of any financial responsibility in future.
Yes, that seems very sensible, if we must have trustees at all. ’
He bowed in stately acknowledgment. ‘There are a great many documents to be signed, and I have details of the house and the estate that will no doubt interest you, but before I do so, I must inform you of the peculiar conditions attached to the bequest.’
‘I knew it,’ Beatrice said with an air of fatalism, much like Cassandra as sinister noises were heard from within the wooden horse that had so rashly been dragged into the city of Troy. ‘I knew it was too good to be true.’
‘Let’s not say that before we have heard what the conditions are,’ Bianca expostulated. ‘Please tell us directly, sir.’
Mr Cotwin coughed politely once more. ‘The matter may easily be explained; it falls into two separate parts. The first is that you must all be able to swear – you will in fact be required to do so, I must stress, and put your names to an affidavit to the effect – that you have not entered into any betrothal that is currently in force. That is, if any of you have ever been contracted to marry in the past, you no longer are.’
‘Well, that’s easy enough,’ Bea said flatly. ‘I assure you, we haven’t. Any of us. Ever.’
‘And the rest?’ This was Mrs Constantine.
‘That the young ladies will not do so, any of you, within a year of the date of receiving your inheritance. It is not merely that you may not marry; you must also not enter into any engagement to do so, official or unofficial, until a full year has expired from today. I want to be very clear on this, so that there is no misunderstanding in future.’
‘And if we did?’ Cecilia asked. She had no desire to rush into matrimony with anybody, but it was as well to be fully informed when one’s future security was at stake. Her life, all their lives, were about to change in ways they could not yet comprehend.
He spread his hands. ‘The inheritance goes to the others, or other, who remain free and single. The lady who engages herself loses everything. The share of the house, the Funds, the money in the bank. She will not receive so much as a penny more than she has already had, and as trustees, we are charged to bear this possibility in mind if we are asked to issue large sums to any of you individually during this first year. Mrs Albery was quite adamant on the point. She was not against marriage, as such – her own being both happy and provident, if sadly childless – but she had the greatest dislike of gazetted fortune hunters and of hasty matches that the parties might later regret. She wanted, if I may venture to interpret her wishes, to make sure that you ladies all had long enough to taste the pleasures of financial independence, so that you might think twice before you lightly decided to give it up at the request of some gentleman, however charming and persuasive he might be.’