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‘It’s like the old days, when you and I first came to London so that I could follow a career in opera. Now look at me, a respectable matron, soon to be a mother. Who would have thought it?’
‘Who would have imagined that I might be the heiress to the Greystone estate?’ Nancy replied. ‘I would have laughed in their face if anyone had suggested it to me.’
Patricia paid the cabby and picked up her skirts. ‘Come along, we haven’t any time to waste. I want to get home before Leo sends the police looking for us.’
They entered the tall red-brick building and Patricia demanded to see Mr Selly. The clerk tried to tell her that Mr Selly had appointments all morning and he was in court later that day, but after travelling all the way from Devonshire Patricia was not in a mood to be thwarted. When all her arguments failed, she sank down on a chair and fanned herself vigorously.
Nancy stepped forward. ‘Please, sir, you can see that Mrs Wilder is quite distraught. A few minutes of Mr Selly’s time is all we ask.’
The clerk eyed Patricia anxiously. ‘All right, miss. I’ll do my best. Just wait here, please.’
‘It always works,’ Patricia said, smiling triumphantly. ‘Men hate to see a woman cry – that would have been my next weapon.’
‘You are shameless.’ Nancy looked up as the door to the corridor opened and the clerk beckoned to them.
‘Mr Selly can spare you ten minutes before his next appointment is due. Please follow me.’
Patricia rose gracefully to her feet and walked briskly after him with Nancy following.
The clerk opened a door at the end of the wainscoted corridor and ushered them into the office.
Gilbert Selly rose from his seat behind a large mahogany desk. ‘Good afternoon, Mrs Wilder. Although, if my memory serves me correctly, you were Lady Greystone when we last met.’
‘You have an excellent memory, Mr Selly.’ Patricia settled herself on a chair in front of the desk, but Nancy remained standing.
‘What can I do for you, ladies?’
‘It might be easiest if I were to tell you, sir.’ Nancy glanced at Patricia, who nodded in agreement. ‘I was a foundling, left on the steps of an orphanage near Rockwood village.’
‘Not far from Greystone Park, my late husband’s estate,’ Patricia added hastily.
‘Yes, this concerns Greystone Park and the estate.’ Nancy sank down on a chair next to Patricia. ‘I have reasonable proof that my parents were Sir Oliver and Lady Greystone, both deceased.’
‘I’m aware of the circumstances surrounding their deaths,’ Selly said gently. ‘But why do you think you were abandoned?’
‘It’s rather complicated. Gervase North has taken up residence in Greystone Park. His mother was Sir Oliver’s younger sister, and Gervase said that as a child of seven he remembers his uncle Oliver arriving in the middle of the night. He left a tiny baby in the care of Francis North, Gervase’s father, but next day there was no sign of the infant, and Gervase’s mother was distraught. It would have been about the time that Sir Oliver fled to Spain and was involved in a fatal duel.’
‘It was then that his younger brother, my late husband, inherited the Greystone estate,’ Patricia said earnestly. ‘As you know, Sir Michael willed everything to his daughters, leaving me with almost nothing.’
‘I do remember your misfortune clearly, ma’am. It was quite shocking, in my opinion. But why has Mr North come to the fore at this juncture? Surely the time to claim the estate would have been when Sir Michael passed away.’
‘I can’t answer that,’ Patricia said, frowning. ‘However, Gervase has made himself and his intention to claim the property known to everyone who will listen. Do you know if the estate is entailed? If that was so then he might have a valid case.’
‘The estate is not entailed, but I did think that Sir Michael’s will was unusual. However, I carried out his instructions to the best of my ability.’
‘If the estate is not entailed, does that mean I could be the legal heir, even though I am female?’ Nancy waited anxiously for his answer.
‘You would need irrefutable proof of your birth, but as Sir Oliver’s legitimate child you would certainly inherit the estate.’
‘That’s all we wanted to know.’ Patricia rose to her feet. ‘Thank you for fitting us in, Mr Selly. I’m very grateful for your help.’ She extended her hand and he raised it to his lips.
‘As am I,’ Nancy said hurriedly. ‘It’s not that I want the estate, but I would like to have a family background, good or bad.’
‘If I might suggest something, Miss Sunday. I suggest you try to get some stronger proof of your true identity. Maybe you were baptised at birth and the priest could be found to verify the story. But if Sir Oliver left a will naming you as his daughter that would be irrefutable.’
‘Gervase has all the family papers,’ Nancy said thoughtfully. ‘He wanted me to help him look for Sir Oliver’s will.’
‘Then perhaps you had better visit Mr North and hope that he has not already discovered the one document that could establish your right to the inheritance.’
