A Question of Inheritance Read Free Page A

last of the bills onto a spike and sat back. ‘I’ll go through the rest of these later. Tell me about the new Earl. When I left, the mystery of Selchester’s murder hadn’t been cleared up. The Earldom was due to lapse, Sonia was going to sell the Castle to a hotel group and all our lives were going to be turned upside down. I come back from six weeks among the pyramids and, lo and behold, a new Lord Selchester has popped up out of nowhere. How did it all come about?’
    Freya said, ‘Some brilliant detective work by Hugo and me. And a lot of help from Hugo’s Uncle Leo. You never met him; you were in London when he arrived and then you went off to Egypt. You’ll get to know him soon enough, because he’s coming here for Christmas.’
    ‘It must be a bit of an upset for you at the Castle, having the new Earl come for Christmas. And I gather it’s not just him. Don’t look at me like that, I didn’t rush out the moment I got back to catch up on the gossip. As it happens, I’d hardly unlocked the door before Jamie came running over from the Daffodil Tearooms. Loud kisses, tut-tuts about my tan, “Nothing worse than the sun for the complexion, I’ll recommend a super cream,” and then to the heart of the matter.’
    This didn’t surprise Freya; Jamie thrived on gossip. ‘He must be delighted to have someone who doesn’t know all about it. Although I dare say Jamie’s version won’t be accurate. He loves to embroider.’
    ‘No invalid wife, no five daughters?’
    Freya laughed. ‘Jamie is outrageous. The new Lord Selchester is a widower. He has two daughters. One nearly grown-up, I think she’s seventeen, and a younger one who’s thirteen.’
    ‘It isn’t premature for them to move in? There’s no question about it? Has his claim to the title been proved? After all, it isn’t just the Earldom, there’s the land and money and the Castle.’
    Freya said, ‘There’s no question of the inheritance; it’s now just a matter now of getting all the formalities dealt with. There’s the complication of his being an American. He can’t swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown if he’s an American citizen, and he can’t take a seat in the Lords without doing that. The lawyers are on the job and it will get sorted out soon. He’s rather bemused by it all, but really behaving very well.’
    ‘So now you’ll have to move out of the Castle. It’ll be a wrench for you to leave your tower. Any plans?’
    Freya said, ‘I’m trying not think about it until Christmas is over. Gus has kindly said I can stay on for as long as I like, but it won’t do. And then there are Hugo and Georgia as well. We were rather hoping that Nightingale Cottage might come free. It would suit them perfectly, but . . .’
    Dinah said, ‘That’s still going on, is it? But what about you? You could do with a cottage.’
    ‘I’ll find somewhere. If the worst comes to the worst, I expect that Eileen will give me a room. She won’t be doing B&B much before Easter.’
    ‘Come here. I’ve got a spare room. We can clear all the clutter and the books out, and you can install yourself with your typewriter. It isn’t the Castle, and it isn’t the Tower, but I promise I won’t expect you to work in the shop. You can get on with your own writing. I assume you’re still going to finish the family history?’
    Freya was touched. ‘That’s decent of you, Dinah. I might have to take you up on it. But I need to find a place of my own. Don’t forget, there’s Magnus as well. Cats make you sneeze.’
    The door opened and a delivery man came in with a box. ‘Two more in the van,’ he said breezily, as he dumped the box at Dinah’s feet. He was back in a few moments, stacked the other boxes and waited for Dinah to sign the docket.
    Even as the delivery man was going out of the door, Dinah was opening the top box. ‘Thank goodness, the new Rosina Wyndhams. Just in time for Christmas – they’ll sell like hot cakes.’
    She removed