Lady Susan Plays the Game Read Free Page A

course,’ said the lawyer, ‘only natural. I shall be as brief as I can, your ladyship.’
    He broke the seal and began reading from the beginning, emphasising the legal words and phrases: the ‘last will and testament’; the ‘sound mind’. He found them as comforting and alluring as he supposed the local vicar found the equally meaningless service he’d just read. Burnett was not a believer although punctilious in observance at church. He loved the ritual of all men’s professions. It was what separated men from women.
    So he read slowly, aware he was annoying Lady Susan. He knew this because she was staring fixedly at the portrait of herself, which Frederick had hung over his desk. It was rather lovely, he noted.
    There were a few bequests, something for the servants including John and Miss Davidson, less for Mrs Baines despite her years of service, then the rest to his beloved wife, as it should be. All seemed in order and John and Mrs Baines were asked to withdraw.
    When the door was shut, Burnett turned to Lady Susan. He cleared his throat slowly, a little fearful even as he relished what he had to say.
    â€˜But your ladyship,’ he began, ‘there is really – and I say it in great sorrow here – no “rest”, or none to speak of, that is, when everything is, as it were, unravelled, there will not be what one might have anticipated in such an illustrious family.’
    â€˜What can you mean, man?’ cried Lady Susan. ‘Do please speak plainly. What are you talking about? Of course there must be …’ She paused, then rushed on. ‘What about the sale of Vernon Castle? Sir Philip paid a considerable sum for it, I know very well. What of that? Don’t tell me the wretched brother of Frederick’s has got his hands on the fortune after all?’ Lady Susan usually avoided expressing herself so vulgarly, but she’d been taken aback. ‘What do you mean?’ she said again. ‘Do speak up, man.’
    She had now twice addressed him as ‘man’ and Burnett didn’t like it. ‘I mean,’ he said making no effort to increase his speed – he had rehearsed this moment many times, the last one only that morning before his shaving glass. ‘I mean that in lay terms – not that I imply that your ladyship would not understand the stricter terms of the law but in view of your ladyship’s desire for haste and absolute clarity, I speak in brief – I mean that the estate is so encumbered with debts, many to a Norwich money-lender called Mr Jacob King – I believe you know the man?’ he stressed the last word as he looked at Lady Susan before turning to gaze briefly through the window where the rain was now sliding down the pane. ‘I mean that there is a preponderance of debts over assets, or that at best they will be roughly equivalent.’
    He turned back to look Lady Susan in the eye. It was the first time that he had stared so directly at her. He took off his spectacles and held them in one hand, ‘Perhaps your ladyship knows better than I what these debts are.’
    Lady Susan rose from the chair. ‘If you are insinuating that I am responsible …’ She didn’t finish the sentence but simply expelled air while her eyes roamed the ceiling and distant wall.
    â€˜No, no, your ladyship, of course not,’ cried Burnett. ‘How could—’
    He was interrupted. ‘I have had expenses of course – life in London – but I had assumed Mr Vernon understood what he was doing and was handling our affairs as he ought. A wife has so little to do with money.’
    â€˜Do you mean you know nothing of these debts?’ asked Burnett a touch more sharply than intended.
    â€˜I knew of some, naturally,’ replied Lady Susan with returning hauteur. ‘In the course of my stays in town I have had to apply to my husband on several occasions – a wife