The Wilt Inheritance Read Free Page B

and, realising that Eva still didn’t understand, continued, ‘Well, actually, if he’d been more ambitious he would almost certainly have been a QC by now but he’s too lazy. We live virtually separate lives.’ She finished her gin and modicum of Noilly Prat and got to her feet. ‘Let’s go through and have lunch.’
    Eva, whose knowledge of acronyms was virtually non-existent, especially those beginning with a ‘J’, and who had even less of an idea what a ‘QC’ might be, was only too glad to move on. She left her sherry and followed Lady Clarissa into the dining room. By the time they’d finished lunch, with which Eva had been persuaded to have a glass of white wine, she was in a decidedly good mood. With coffee Lady Clarissa, who had finished the bottle of white burgundy they’d had with the meal, ordered two Armagnacs and insisted Eva try one. She sipped at it but Clarissa ordered her to drink it all.
    ‘Down the hatch,’ she said, and drained her own glass. ‘You’ll find it a perfect digestif.’
    Eva did as she was told and wished she hadn’t. Only then did the subject of Wilt’s salary for tutoring Lady Clarissa’s son come up.
    ‘We’re prepared to pay your husband fifteen hundred pounds a week and all found. If he can get Edward into Porterhouse there’ll be a bonus of five thousandpounds. I mean, the summer holidays last two months so there’s plenty of time. I realise this is frightfully short notice and you might already have a holiday planned …’
    ‘The Lake District,’ said Eva, with some difficulty, ‘we go every year.’ The spirit had gone to her head. And the thought of a £5,000 bonus made it reel even more.
    ‘Well, you can cancel and come to us instead. There’s a furnished cottage in the grounds you are welcome to use, rent-free. And we’re not far from a delightfully sandy beach. I’m sure you’ll love the Estate too.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I suppose you’ll have to discuss the idea with your husband, and I must meet him too.’
    Eva hurriedly stopped any suggestion of that. The notion horrified her. Wilt wouldn’t make the right impression at all.
    ‘I’m afraid he’s gone down to see his mother this weekend. She’s not been at all well lately.’
    ‘Oh, I am sorry. Still, I’m coming down again next weekend to get my wretched uncle into the nursing home. He really is a curmudgeonly old man! I do everything for him and nothing seems to please him. Perhaps I’ll be able to meet your husband then?’
    Eva gave a small nod which could have been interpreted either way. She would have to rehearse Wilt endlessly if he weren’t to go and spoil everything.
    Lady Clarissa stood up. ‘Time for a catnap before I head off. It’s been a great pleasure talking to you, my dear. And I am so glad that you’re a fairly normal size.’
    She left a puzzled Eva still sitting at the table wondering what on earth her size had to do with anything. Perhaps the boy was a dwarf or height-impaired or whatever you had to call it nowadays. But then Lady Clarissa would surely have asked about Wilt’s size and not hers? How very strange the whole lunch had been … and, come to think of it, how very strange she herself felt after all that alcohol. She went out and took a taxi, abandoning her car at the day centre. Once back home she took an unplanned catnap of her own, waking up several hours later on the floor of the sitting room with no clear memory of how she’d got there. Thank God Henry hadn’t come back and found her! she thought as she groggily came to.
    She needn’t have worried. Several hours later the supper she had hastily prepared for him was still uneaten. Thinking of the difference Lady Clarissa’s money would make, she hummed happily to herself as she took Wilt’s steak and broccoli out of the warming oven and put it in the fridge. After that she sat in front of the TV for a little longer, watching a movie, but finally gave up waiting. She turned out the