“Young man if you want her—ask her. Beating around the bush never got anyone anywhere.”
“But you see…” he stammered.
“Nonsense. Is it your papa who worries you?” Aunt asked Helena. “If so tell him from me he needs to remember what it was like to be young. He has become more ossified than the barnacled bottom of a boat. If you want, I can come over and take my stick to him—set him straight for you.”
Helena could not help giggling. “Aunt, I thank you, but I hardly think that is the best way to accomplish our goal.”
Aunt waved her hand. “Whatever you wish. Makes no difference to me. But if you ask me, young people today have no spines. In my day we went for what we wanted. Take your uncle. If I had not taken a switch to him he would still be languishing in some miserable Foreign Office basement in a dead-end job. Still, if we had not gone to Morocco, he might still be alive. But we went there tolive!” She waved her pipe in the air, struck a match, and lit it.
George and Helena held hands, faced each other, and looked forlorn.
“What do you suggest we do now?” Helena asked turning to George.
“Let me speak to my father and see what he can suggest,” George said. “But for the moment it seems nothing has changed for us.”
Chapter 9
The Duke’s London house was modest but well appointed. The family did not use the house as much as they used to, but it was kept fully staffed, and Grandmamma Augusta did enjoy going for the opera season.
Thomas was in London on business this trip. He had set up appointments with his solicitor and two bankers. Thomas realized he had been lax about his responsibilities to the estate. But it had become apparent that he needed to find out why the estate was losing money instead of making it. It could not be only the troubles in the West Indies. His father had informed him of the variety of their investments, and it made no sense that one part of the portfolio should cause this massive loss of income.
He arrived at his solicitor’s office at ten o’clock as scheduled. Sir Benjamin Stockwell was happy to see him after such a long time.
“Come in, Your Grace. I thought you might have forgotten about us.”
“I am afraid it is my fault. I have not been attending to business as I should have, and unfortunately, I am here to discuss the state of my estate. I have not been happy, recently, with the results of our investments .”
Sir Benjamin was an elderly gentleman whom Thomas had known since boyhood. The gentleman was stalwart and industrious, with a sterling reputation, but he was also a bit dried out, dusty, and bloodless.
“Yes, I understand your concern,” Sir Benjamin said, directing Thomas to sit in a chair opposite his desk. “When you made your appointment, I pulled out your files, and have been reviewing the financial statements, and I can see there is a good reason to review these accounts.”
“And have you found an explanation for this precipitous fall in income, Sir Benjamin?” Thomas asked.
“Have you spoken to your bankers yet?”
“My next appointments are with them.”
“From what I can ascertain, there has been a lot of shifting of funds from one investment to another. Shares were bought and sold regularly What was your motive in doing that?”
Thomas did not understand. “I am sorry, but I have not been moving any funds. The share accounts were set up for the interest from the investments to go into the operating account for the estate. Other than that, I have not been shifting any funds.”
“It clearly shows in these statements that shares have been sold and moved to other accounts. But there is no way to ascertain what was behind those transfers of funds.”
“You mean to say, that shares have been sold and the money moved elsewhere?”
“It would seem to be so. But it is difficult to tell. There has been so much activity—both selling and buying. But I assumed it was you who made these transfers.”
Thomas felt uncomfortable. “I am sorry to say it was not me. It seems I have been a poor caretaker of the estate business. But I am determined to find out what has been going on and to remedy the situation if I can.”
Sir Benjamin handed Thomas his file. “These are the statements showing the activity. I trust you have your own copies which we forwarded to you on a regular basis?”
Thomas looked at the papers. “Yes, I do have these same statements, and that is why I am here. To see what can be done about this situation. Can you assist me?”
Thomas handed the file back, and Sir Benjamin thought for a moment or two.
“Since we are not the transactors in these stock sales and purchases, I am afraid we can do little except to advise you on a course of action you might choose to take.”
“Then what do you advise?”
