A Wager for Love Read Online Free PDF

grandmother’s spirit unless he was very much mistaken. To be sure she was not dressed in the first stare or fashion, as one would suppose a young lady other birth to be, but Jonathon Hoare could find nothing strange in these circumstances. His knowledge or the late Dowager Countess’s family was extensive. Indeed he had been privy to the making of the Will. His glasses cleaned to his satisfaction, he resumed the conversation.
    “Miss Davenham. I take it you have received a letter from Laidlaw, the late Dowager’s man of business.”
    Lavinia, normally cool and composed, round herself answering a little hesitantly. “Yes, I did hear from him. He writes that my grandmother has left me her entire fortune. I was so surprised. or course, I don’t know just how much money is involved,” she finished a little doubtfully.
    The banker placed the tips of his fingers together and eyed her calmly. Naturally he was perfectly cognisant with the extent of the Countess’s fortune. Indeed, he had had many persons of quality sitting before him in that very chair, but very few quite as wealthy as this particular young lady. The Dowager had invested her money well, and had quadrupled the amount she had inherited from her own father. Even Jonathon Hoare himself had been surprised when he knew the full amount involved. He sighed a little. “Well, Miss Davenham. I can tell you there is quite a considerable sum involved.”
    “How much?”
    Controlling his surprise at such a point-blank question, he tilted his chair back a little to get a better view of Miss Davenham. Normally it took his customers quite a time to work their way round to this all important question. In one particular, at least, he had not been wrong; Miss Davenham was clearly cast in the same mould as her grandmother.
    “Er, let me see now.” He knew to the exact penny how much money was involved, but years of experience had taught him always to be cautious. “Let me see. Umm. I think, in round figures of course, you understand.” He pursed his lips thoughtfully, whilst Lavinia clung tensely to the edge of her chair. So much depended on the sum of money there was. He looked down at the papers on his desk, jotted down a few calculations, and then raising his head said gravely, “Something in the region of two hundred thousand pounds, I believe.”
    Unable to hide her relief, Lavinia leant forward, “So much! Oh no. Surely you must be wrong.” Another thought, a good deal less pleasant suddenly struck her. “Oh dear, my uncle.” She put her hand to her mouth. “Has …has my grandmother left him anything?”
    The banker shook his head gravely. “No, indeed the Will was most explicit. Every penny to you, my dear.”
    He sighed a little. He had spent a most trying afternoon with the Countess’s son, when her ladyship had died. His Lordship, despite his handsome house in the country, his wife’s fortune, and his own title, had not been pleased to learn that his mother had seen fit to bestow the entire sum of her wealth on his younger brother’s child. There had been a good deal of striding about the room, thumping on the banker’s desk, and some unpleasant talk about senile old women, before Mr. Hoare had been able to convince him of the legality of the document. He pondered for a moment on the particularly unpleasant attitude My Lord had taken when acquainted with the definite legality of the will, and then banishing him from his mind turned back to the young girl, who was watching him with dazed eyes. “There, my dear, I should not worry too much about your uncle. I understand he has left town for his estates.”
    There was a brief comprehensive silence. Mr. Hoare smiled kindly at Lavinia. “Now, my dear, you can safely leave things to me and, of course, your late grandmother’s lawyer. I trust you will be happy with such an arrangement.” He glanced at his watch. It had been along morning; he had arranged to meet a business acquaintance in the coffee