Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
“What is he doing here?” Julia hissed to Amanda. They sat next to each other in their grandmother’s library, as Mr. Masterson had requested.
After the funeral, all who had attended the funeral had gathered in the blue salon to enjoy a reviving cup of tea and cake. Those guests had departed about an hour later, after which the family had been asked to gather in the library for the reading of Lady Roxburgh’s will.
Mr. Masterson had already spoken to the household staff this morning regarding the personal bequests from their previous employer.
Meaning there should only be family members in the library, and yet there he was, the Earl of Wolfingham, sitting between the countess and marchioness.
Julia glared her displeasure at the back of his neck. “He has no right to be here!” If Wolfingham had any sensibility of feelings whatsoever, he would be able to feel her resentment, and yet there he sat, as if he had a perfect right to be here.
She could have understood, perhaps, if he had felt a need to remain after the funeral and had chosen to keep her father and uncle company as they stood near the bay window looking out over the gardens.
Such an arrangement allowed privacy between the female members of the family, the beneficiaries, and the lawyer.
But instead of joining the other gentlemen, Nicholas had chosen to sit between the two older ladies present, mere feet away from where Julia and Amanda also sat.
The lawyer had taken his place behind a table at the front of the room.
He was a man Julia had never met before his arrival yesterday, when he had introduced himself to her parents and aunt and uncle as Mr. Giles Masterson.
He had explained he was the grandson and son of the other two partners of the law firm, Masterson, Masterson, and Masterson, who had long been lawyers to Lord and Lady Roxburgh, with whom that dear lady had entrusted her will.
Giles Masterson was possibly aged thirty at most, with a very serious disposition. Despite that, he looked a little young to be a partner in such a respected London firm.
He had joined the family for dinner the previous evening, of course, and spent the night in one of the guest bedchambers. All so that he could be present this morning at the funeral of his client and then carry out the reading of her will to her family.
Giles was handsome enough, Julia allowed, with his dark hair and steely gray eyes.
But his expression was stern and his manner somewhat cold, making him appear much older than the age Julia guessed him to be.
He had certainly not gone out of his way to endear himself to either Amanda or Julia the previous evening or today, his demeanor taciturn at best.
Just as well, because Julia, for one, would not believe in the sincerity of any man’s interest when it had long been known that she and Amanda would both become wealthy heiresses upon the death of their grandmother.
That knowledge had been another of the reasons they had joined four of their friends in forming the Spinsters Alliance earlier in the Season: the last thing either Julia or Amanda wanted was to be forced to marry any of the impoverished, if titled, fortune hunters who would pursue them relentlessly simply for the money they possessed.
Giles Masterson, despite his tailored black superfine and pantaloons, along with highly polished black Hessians, was not impoverished exactly, but neither was he a wealthy or titled gentleman.
And so began her suspicion of a gentleman’s true intention, Julia acknowledged heavily. She was relieved, once again, that she and Amanda had made a pact with their other friends not to marry for anything less than true love.
“To my two daughters,” Giles Masterson read from Lady Roxburgh’s will, his voice an emotionless monotone, “the Countess of Ipswich and the Marchioness of Broom, I leave all of the jewelry, given to me by my beloved husband during our marriage, to be shared by them as they see fit. My fortune will be divided equally between my two granddaughters, Julia and Amanda, to be given into their care upon their marriage or attaining the age of one and twenty. Until then, it will be kept in trust and managed by their fathers.” He glanced up.
“The next paragraph deals with the agreement that was made in regard to Roxburgh Manor.”
Julia had not thought before as to what was to happen to Roxburgh Manor now that her grandmother was dead.
The Roxburgh title and properties were not part of an entitled estate so would not be inherited by some distant male relative none of them had ever heard of.
Julia’s grandfather had the title and estate bestowed on him by King George III, for services to the Crown, and it was not a hereditary title.
Julia’s parents and Amanda’s had their own estates, town houses, and fortune, and certainly had no need of this small estate in Surrey. Perhaps she and Amanda would be allowed to call this place home if they never married?
“Arrangements were made,” the lawyer began, “between my dear husband, Lord Gerard Roxburgh, and Lord David Harding, the then Earl of Wolfingham, that the estate of Roxburgh Manor would, upon both our deaths, by prior agreement, become part of the Wolfingham estate. Our eldest granddaughter, Lady Juliet Chalmers, would, also as agreed between both parties, marry Lord David Wolfingham’s eldest son, and in doing so become the Countess of Wolfingham, and so unite our two families. ”
Julia was vaguely aware of Amanda’s gasp before a rushing noise in her ears blocked out all other sound.
She also felt dizzy.
A sense of disconnection.
As if she were far removed from anything that was being done or said in this room.
Such as hearing our eldest granddaughter, Lady Juliet Chalmers, would, also as agreed between both parties, marry Lord David Harding’s eldest son, and in doing so become the Countess of Wolfingham, and so unite our two families.
It could not be true. She must have misheard—
“Do you need a few minutes to compose yourself?” Giles Masterson inquired of her coolly.
Did she need—
“No, I do not need any time,” she scoffed, “because there will not be a betrothal or a marriage!” Julia stumbled to her feet, feeling dizzy from what felt as if there was a vise of some kind wrapped about her chest preventing her from drawing air into her starved lungs.
Amanda also stood, her face as pale as Julia believed her own must be. “Surely this has to be a jest of some kind?” She gave a nervous laugh. “One without any real humor, admittedly. But this clause in Grandmama’s will cannot possibly be real.” She looked as bewildered as Julia felt.
The Earl of Wolfingham also rose to his feet before turning to face her, his expression once again one of sympathy.
Sympathy!
Julia did not need his sympathy; she needed him to be gone. From this house, this county, this country, if it could be arranged.
Although she could not help but notice that her mother and father, and her aunt and uncle, all looked far less shocked by this last clause in their mother’s will than their daughters did.
Her eyes narrowed. “Did you know about this?” She included her father and uncle in her sweeping gaze. “Did you all know and keep it from me?”
“Julia—”
“Do not touch me!” she warned Nicholas Harding from between gritted teeth as he stepped toward her. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, her whole body now shaking with fury. “Who on earth even thought of such a disgraceful arrangement?” she demanded to know.
Nicholas slowly lowered his hand back to his side. “I believe the agreement was suggested between your grandparents and my parents many years ago.”
“Why?”
“A marriage between the two of us is a good social connection for both of us.”
“I asked why it was ever a consideration, not its social advantages,” she repeated fiercely. “And do not attempt to lie to me,” she warned icily.
He nodded. “Your grandparents were somewhat…short of funds fifteen years ago, your grandfather having experienced a bad year on the ’Change, I believe.
My father loaned him the money to keep this estate and your grandparents in their London lifestyle until such time as your grandfather found himself back in funds. ”
“Which he did.” Julia knew that her grandparents were extremely wealthy before her grandfather’s death and now her grandmother’s.
“Yes, he did,” Wolfingham acknowledged. “But instead of accepting the repayment of the loan, the two men came to a further agreement.”
“Which was?”
“That your grandparents would continue to live on this estate until their deaths, when the two of us would marry and the land and house would become part of the Wolfingham estate.”
“This makes no sense.” Julia shook her head. “Why didn’t my grandfather ask my parents or my aunt and uncle for financial assistance? They are certainly rich enough to have loaned him the money.”
Wolfingham shrugged. “I believe your grandfather felt…uncomfortable asking either of his sons-in-law for money, even if it would eventually be repaid. It was a matter of pride, I expect.”
Her eyes widened incredulously. “But he felt no qualms about asking one of his neighbors for money in exchange for my hand in marriage to the eldest Harding son?”
He shrugged. “The two men were firm friends for many years. They agreed that Roxburgh Manor becoming part of the Wolfingham estate was a natural course of events. The joining of the two families by marriage even more so.”
Her nostrils flared. “So, all these years, I’ve failed to know that my fate had been decided for me while I was still in the cradle?”
His jaw tightened. “I believe—”
“I find myself quite sick of hearing what you believe,” Julia scorned.
“You asked—”
“But I am now tired of your answers,” she dismissed.
“I see,” he acknowledged mildly. “Roxburgh Manor aside, your grandparents’ fortune was not only fully restored but considerably increased before they died. Which is why you and Lady Amanda are now set to inherit fortunes of your own.”