A Golden Lie Read online

  Devona did not answer and after a pause he added,

  “It is usual when a cruel and miserly man dies for his servants to run away. Of course, they take with them everything it is possible to take. I suppose I should be glad that the pictures are still intact.”

  “I am sorry – about the silver, my Lord, but those who took them had not been paid any wages – for a long time. They were afraid that you would be like your uncle.”

  The Earl smiled.

  “And how did you expect me to be?”

  “A very old frightening man who would carry on – in your uncle’s place,” Devona faltered.

  The Earl threw back his head and laughed.

  “I can assure you I am not going to do that and I suppose over luncheon we should discuss what you want. You cannot have enjoyed staying here in all this misery.”

  “I had nowhere – else to go,” Devona said in a low voice.

  “Who did you talk to?” the Earl asked. “I cannot believe my uncle was much of a conversationalist. Have you friends in the neighbourhood?”

  Devona shook her head.

  “Then it’s true that Uncle Walter really saw no one and hated people coming to the house in case it cost him anything.”

  He spoke so scornfully that Devona felt ashamed at pretending to be a relation of the dead man.

  In a low voice, because she was feeling nervous at standing up for him, she added,

  “I think we have to admit that your uncle – was not normal and that being a miser is almost the same as having a nasty disease. If they cannot cure themselves, you cannot blame them – too strongly for suffering from it.”

  The Earl smiled.

  “That is certainly a new way of putting things. If you had heard all the stories I had listened to about Uncle Walter and how ashamed and horrified all the family are of him, you would know that none of them are prepared to make the slightest excuse for his behaviour.”

  “I do see that it must have been terrible for them, my Lord, but surely your father was someone of authority in the family and could have made him see sense.”

  “They all tried and tried,” the Earl said. “Because he believed that they wanted to take his money from him, he locked the door against them and even threatened, I am told, several of my cousins with a gun.”

  “I don’t believe it!” Devona exclaimed.

  “It is true, but, because they did not want to die in such an unpleasant way, they went home and continued to talk about him.”

  There was silence for a moment.

  Then he said,

  “Are you sure you don’t mind my speaking about your father in such a manner? It must be uncomfortable for you.”

  “I would never have dared – to say anything to him myself,” Devona replied. “And, of course, you may have made a mistake – and he may not have any money hidden away.”

  The Earl looked at her.

  “Are you suggesting he spent it all?” he asked.

  “I just don’t know. He only said he had no money to spend on anything including, at the end of his life – on food.”

  She was thinking of the three rabbits the Earl had refused to buy at one penny each and of how the boys had taken them away and probably eaten them themselves.

  What she was feeling must have been expressive on her face, because the Earl asserted,

  “Forget it! It’s all over now and I can see you have suffered. You are far too thin, so let’s go and fatten you up!”

  They walked into the dining room and she saw the food that had been set up on the sideboard.

  There was so much that she gave a gasp.

  There was a ham, a large pâté she found delicious, a bowl of salad as well as a side of smoked salmon.

  “I just don’t believe it!” she exclaimed. “I have not seen so much food for a very long time.”

  “Then let me carve you something to eat with this rather inadequate knife,” the Earl suggested.

  They started off with the smoked salmon and then moved onto the pâté.

  By the time they came to the ham, after eating so little for so long, Devona could not eat any more.

  “You have to try,” the Earl insisted. “I have seen people suffering from starvation in the War and to begin with they could only swallow a few mouthfuls. But they soon became used to a little more and that is what you have to do.”

  He urged her to have a glass of champagne and a bottle was opened for them.

  Devona had never drunk champagne except once or twice at Christmas when her father had been alive.

  Then, because she had been so young, she had only had half a glassful, but, when she drank a whole glass now, she felt a flush come to her cheeks and then she felt a little giddy.

  ‘I must not behave badly,” she thought. ‘He might send me away as not being the right sort of person to be with his other relations.’

  She had no idea, as she knew so very little about men, that the Earl was looking at her with admiration.

  He was thinking it strange that anyone belonging to his uncle could be so beautiful.

  Other members of the family had been acclaimed beauties, yet it seemed very extraordinary that his miserly despicable uncle had managed to produce an outstanding beauty.

  When they had finished luncheon, the Earl said,

  “Now I have to go to work. I will go at once to the town and find out who are the undertakers and tell them to come here immediately. I will also satisfy your curiosity and mine by finding out how much my uncle has left and who he has left it to.”

  He did not ask Devona to go with him.

  He went to the stables and ten minutes later she saw him driving off.

  He was not doing so as she expected in his phaeton with his four perfectly matched team. Instead he had one of the horses attached to the disreputable cart Hitchin used when he went shopping.

  As he disappeared between the oak trees, Devona thought that he might have taken her with him.

  When she thought about it, she had not driven out anywhere since her mother died and it would have been invigorating to go for a drive.

  She only ever left the house when she was able to ride in the woods alone.

  She had to admit, although she had been frightened, that it was very exciting to talk to a man as attractive as the new Earl.

  But she was becoming scared of her own lies and that he would somehow expose her and be furious with her for pretending to be one of his family.

  And yet she could not help feeling that under the circumstances he would have to give her a little money.

  Perhaps, if he was going to put the house in order, he would let her stay on either in the big house or in the Dower House.

  ‘After all he has said.’ she reflected, ‘he will feel obliged to do something for me. That would certainly be better than going out into the world all by myself and being very very frightened.’

  She was wondering, because the Earl had not said anything, whether he intended to live here at The Hall or he might want to go back to his London house where he had lived with his father.

  Then she would be alone.

  ‘Whatever happens,’ Devona told herself, ‘I have to be very clever in making him think that, as I am one of the family, he must look after me in some way.’

  She sighed.

  ‘Perhaps I shall have enough money to pay for my board and lodging with one of the poorer of my relations.’

  It was certainly an idea, but Devona was only too well aware how little she knew of the world outside The Hall.

  She could remember their life in Essex where they had had a number of friends, but when they came away she had seen no one, except of course, the Earl, the servants and her father and mother when they were alive.

  That had been her life for five years.

  In those five years she had grown up from being a child to being a woman.

  ‘I just want to live a normal life like anyone else,’ she thought, ‘but I don’t know how to b
egin. And how can I depend on anyone as young as the Earl?’

  There was no answer to any of these musings, so her thoughts continued,

  ‘He will want to be in London with all the smart fashionable people who circle round the Prince Regent.’

  It was a factor that she had not thought of before and it was difficult to think about it now because she knew so little.

  Everything she knew about people came from her beloved books, which told her a great deal about history, but it was not the same as coming into contact with human beings.

  Again she asked herself the same question.

  What is to become of me?

  What will happen?

  What shall I do?

  The questions seemed to tumble over themselves in her brain.

  Then she realised that she was waiting breathlessly until the Earl returned from the town.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Devona was arranging the flowers in the drawing room when she heard the Earl come back.

  He was later than she thought he would be and was worried in case something unexpected had detained him.

  She put down the flowers and ran into the hall.

  As he climbed out of his phaeton, she thought that no one could look smarter.

  The Earl came walking towards her and as he did so she saw that there was a serious expression on his face.

  She had meant to run down the steps to greet him, instead she stood at the top looking down at him.

  She waited once again with that breathless feeling of fear in her heart.

  He came slowly up the steps and because he did not speak she asked,

  “Is everything – all right? Did you find out – what you wanted to know?”

  “I will tell you about it,” he said, “but I think we should go into the study or the drawing room, whichever you prefer.”

  Devona drew in her breath.

  Something had happened. Something serious and she wondered what it could possibly be.

  The Earl put down his hat, joined her and they then walked into the drawing room together.

  He closed the door behind him and Devona stood in front of the mantelpiece.

  “What has – happened?” she asked. “I just – know something is wrong. Have you – arranged for the funeral?”

  The words tumbled over themselves and the Earl answered,

  “Yes, I have arranged for the funeral. The Bank gave me the name of some undertakers and they will bring the coffin tomorrow. I also contacted a Vicar, who has not been here before, but he will take the Service and bury your father.”

  For a moment Devona could not speak and then she said,

  “I forgot to tell you, which was very stupid of me, that, because – the tower of the Church was not mended when it should have been – it collapsed and some of it has fallen into the Church – so it is really impossible to have a Service inside it.”

  The words came rather jerkily from her lips.

  “Well, if we cannot go inside then, we shall have to manage outside,” the Earl replied.

  There was silence for a moment before he said,

  “Sit down, please, because I want to talk to you.”

  Devona sank down in the nearest chair and the Earl moved to stand at the window.

  “When I went to see your father’s Solicitors,” he began, “they told me that one of their partners remembered many years ago giving your father the special parchment paper for him to write his will on.”

  Devona clasped her hands together as if to control herself and he continued,

  “When I asked if they had the will, they told me that your father had it in his keeping and, in fact, they had not been asked to witness it.”

  He hesitated before he went on,

  “This means that we must look for the will and it is very important that we find it.”

  “Why is it – so important?” she managed to ask.

  “I obtained the name of your father’s Bank from the Solicitors. When I went there, I informed the Manager that your father was dead and, as Head of the Family, I wished to know what his assets were. I also informed him that I was trying to find his will.”

  Again there was silence as if the Earl was choosing his words carefully.

  Although feeling apprehensive, Devona could not prevent herself from asking,

  “Has he left – nothing?”

  “On the contrary he has left a great deal of money and that is why it is so essential we should find his will.”

  “Then he has left – a lot of money?” she murmured under her breath.

  “To be exact,” he replied, “it’s nearly one million pounds.”

  Devona gasped.

  “I don’t believe it! It cannot be true!”

  “It is true. While he was skimping and refusing to help his family, refusing to feed you and the servants, he was very well aware that he had this enormous sum in the Bank.”

  Devona remembered that his meanness had killed her father and mother and for a moment it was with great difficulty that she did not scream at the agony of it.

  She then recalled the freezing cold of her mother’s bedroom when she was so ill and how the Earl had refused to send for a doctor even though she had pleaded with him.

  Aloud she murmured,

  “I just cannot – believe it! How could he have been so mean – when he had so much?”

  “That is exactly what I am asking myself,” the Earl said. “But you do see that it is important from your point of view that we know who he has left his vast wealth to.”

  “Why to me?” Devona asked.

  “I imagine he has left you a considerable sum and there might be something for his relations. If, on the other hand, he did not leave a will, which seems unlikely, you inherit everything because you are his next of kin.”

  Devona drew in her breath.

  “How could I – do that?”

  For the first time the Earl smiled.

  “Most people would find it quite easy,” he said. “But it would be a mistake for you to count on it. He may have left a will leaving his money to some Charity or, what is extremely unlikely, one of his other relatives.”

  It passed through Devona’s mind that she could tell the Earl the answer to this burning question and how she had destroyed the will in which the old Earl had wanted all his money buried with him.

  He would certainly not have wished any of it to be enjoyed by his relatives nor by her.

  As she was wondering what to say, the Earl rose to his feet.

  “What we have to do now and you must help me,” he said, “is to look in every nook and corner where your father is likely to have placed his will. Is there a safe in his bedroom, Devona?”

  “I don’t think – so. I never heard of one there.”

  She thought that Hitchin would have known. If it was possible for him to steal the silver from one safe, he might have taken money from a smaller one.

  She saw that the Earl was waiting and said quickly,

  “I could not go up there – to look now, my Lord.”

  “No, of course not,” he agreed. “I will take a quick look while you go and investigate his writing table in the study. We might have looked there before I went into the town, but I did not think of it.”

  Devona was only too well aware that there was no will lying in the writing desk, so she replied meekly,

  “I will do – as you say.”

  The Earl walked up the stairs and, as she heard him going into the Master bedroom, she shuddered.

  She knew she could not bear to look at the old Earl.

  She had last seen him when Hitchin had discovered that he was dead and she just could not go there again.

  She went to the study and opened all the drawers of the writing desk as if she was searching for the will she knew was not there.

  There was nothing but the myriad of ancient bills methodically collected by the Earl and it must have been, she felt, his way of showing how much he was imposed on
. She knew that he had hated the people to whom he had to give away the money that he cherished so much, just as they hated him for being miserly about it.

  ‘I suppose I ought not to hate anyone,’ she thought. ‘But he killed Mama and Papa and if I do nothing else with any money I may receive, I will put a proper tombstone on their graves.’

  Then what the Earl had said to her, which she had hardly understood at the time, swept over her.

  She felt that she was dreaming and that the whole scenario was impossible.

  Just how could she inherit that enormous amount of money, simply because she had destroyed a will that she believed was cruel and wicked?

  ‘I must not take it,’ she told herself.

  At the same time she need no longer be fearful of starving to death alone or be afraid of having to beg the new Earl to protect and keep her.

  Nearly one million pounds!

  She could not imagine such a sum.

  But she could easily understand it was an enormous fortune for anyone, man or woman, to possess.

  The Earl came downstairs.

  “There is nothing at all in your father’s bedroom,” he said, “and I cannot imagine he would have a safe in any other room on that floor.”

  “No – of course not,” Devona replied hesitatingly.

  “Have you found anything in the writing desk?”

  She shook her head.

  “Only a mountain of bills. I think he kept every bill he ever received!”

  The Earl gave a laugh that had no humour in it.

  “I suppose the number of his bills justified him in not spending any more than he could save. He could well be congratulated on an achievement that even impressed the Bank Manager.”

  Devona did not understand and the Earl explained,

  “He either put his money on deposit or else would invest it in completely safe shares that have improved in value over the years. The Bank Manager told me that he had never been known to lose a penny on his investments.”

  Devona could understand that this was astute, but the question still remained as to what would happen to the money now?

  “If there is nowhere else you think we can search,” the Earl was saying, “and surely you know the house better than anyone else, we must therefore assume that the will does not exist and so the money is all yours.”