“No provision my lord. Not so much as a penny.”
“What?” Leo was shocked. “Then what the devil was he playing at, to sire a child and make no provision for her support? He wasn’t a poor man.”
“I cannot speculate, my lord. It is most irregular.” He pursed his lips and added apologetically, “The cousin who inherited Studley Park Manor allowed the girls to see out their mourning year in their childhood home, but he is about to get married and has served them notice to vacate the house.”
“And?” Leo prompted. He disliked the look in the man’s eye.
“And thus Miss Clarissa Studley and her, er, relative will be coming to London. To you.”
“To me?”
The lawyer shrugged. “They have nowhere else to go.”
Leo swore under his breath. It was one thing to oversee financial arrangements for a pair of young women, quite another to have them landing—in person!—on his doorstep.
He had a good mind to walk out and catch the next boat back to the continent. But he was nothing if not a realist. He’d dealt with every other problem his father had left him with, and he could deal with this.
He perused the documents in front of him. “Very well then, surely we can find the funds to pension the er-relative off. Studley should have done that in the first place.” Leaving the girl without means of support was an utter disgrace.
Melkin nodded. “That would seem the best solution, my lord, only where would the money come from?”
“How is she currently supported?”
“By Miss Clarissa Studley, my lord. She intends to share her own fortune with her—”
Leo frowned. “Can she do that?”
“No. Miss Studley’s inheritance doesn’t come to her until she is married, after which it will be in the control of her husband, so there’s no danger there. In the meantime, the trust that her maternal grandfather set up pays for whatever she needs, including an allowance for pin money. It’s a very generous allowance, and she shares it equally with her half sister. And since Sir Bartleby left nothing to either girl...” He spread his fingers in a helpless gesture.
Leo’s own fingers curled into fists. “So in effect Miss Studley is supporting her father’s natural daughter as her father did not?”
He could barely believe it. A disgrace for a young girl—both young girls—to be put in such a position. The sooner Leo made arrangements for the half sister, and freed Miss Studley of the burden of her support, the better.
Melkin produced a sealed letter. “Sir Bartleby left this private letter for you in which, I presume, he explains.”
Leo broke open the seal and read the letter. It was dated shortly before Studley’s death.
Salcott, apologies for leaving my bastard brat to your offices, but I have been unable to pry her loose from my daughter. The witch has her claws in deep. Isobel has shown every sign of being as immoral and manipulative as her whore of a mother. Perhaps in London she will finally fulfill her aim of becoming a courtesan. Even as a young girl, she was attempting to work her wiles on my guests.
I trust you will find more success than I in freeing my daughter from her unholy influence.
Yours etc.
Studley
Leo read the letter again. It left a nasty taste in his mouth. For a man to talk so about his own daughter,illegitimate or not. Still, she must have done something to provoke such vitriol. And a deathbed request was not something to take lightly.
But Studley’s cheek was unbelievable! He should have dealt with his own dirty blasted washing, not palmed it off on another man, let alone a man whom—assuming he’d intended the task for Leo’s father—he hadn’t seen in a decade or more. Leo’s father had been bedridden for the last ten years of his life.
But now things began to make more sense. If the bastard daughter had immoral tendencies and was planning to set up as a courtesan—and if the man knew she was battening on her sister—Leo could understand why Studley might be reluctant to settle money on her. Though it was still wrong.
He crumpled the letter in his fist.Immoral and manipulative, was she? As it happened, he was well acquainted with the designing kind of female, and dammit, it would definitely take money to get rid of her.
And Studley had left Leo with no option but to pay her out of his own pocket.
He hoped the man was roasting in hell.
He sat back, eyeing the documents broodingly. “So, two girls, one legitimate and with a fortune, one without name or means. Regardless of any moral failings she may have, the illegitimate girl nevertheless has a right to some support. Studley raised her in his own home along with his legitimate daughter, so it’s poor form to simply toss her out in the cold with nothing. No wonder she depends on her half sister for support.”
