CHAPTER 10-2

 

　　"He‘s very kind,"said Elvira, "but he’s not the sort of person who ever tells you anything. He just arrangesthings, and looks a little worried in case they mightn‘t bewhat I’d like. Of course he listens to a lot of people –women, I mean – who tell him things. LikeContessa Martinelli. He arranges for me to go to schools or to finishing places."

　　"And they haven‘t beenwhere you wanted to go?"

　　"No, I didn’t meanthat. They‘ve been quite all right. I mean they’ve been more or less where everyone else goes."

　　"I see."

　　"But I don‘t knowanything about myself, I mean what money I’ve got, and howmuch, and what I could do with it if I wanted."

　　"In fact," saidEgerton, with his attractive smile, "you want to talkbusiness. Is that it? Well, I think you‘re quite right. Let’s see. How old are you? Sixteen – seventeen? “

　　"I‘m nearly twenty."

　　"Oh dear. I’d no idea."

　　"You see," explainedElvira, "I feel all the time that I‘m being shielded and sheltered. It’s nice in away, but it can get very irritating."

　　"It‘s an attitude that’s gone out of date," agreed Egerton, "but I can quite see that it would appeal to Derek Luscombe."

　　"He‘s a dear,"said Elvira, "but very difficult, somehow,to talk to seriously."

　　"Yes, I can see that that might be so. Well, howmuch do you know about yourself, Elvira? About your family circumstances?"

　　"I know that my father died when I was five andthat my mother had run away from him with someone when I was about two, I don’t remember her at all. I barely remember my father. He was very old and hadhis leg up on a chair. He used to swear. I was rather scared of him. After he died I livedfirst with an aunt or a cousin or something of my father‘s,until she died, and then I lived with Uncle Derek and his sister. But then she died and Iwent to Italy. Uncle Derek has arranged for me, now, to live with the Melfords who are hiscousins and very kind and nice and have two daughters about my age."

　　"You’re happy there?"

　　"I don‘t know yet. I’ve barely got there. They‘re all very dull. Ireally wanted to know how much money I’ve got."

　　"So it‘s financialinformation you really want?"

　　"Yes," said Elvira. "I’ve got some money, I know. Is it a lot?"

　　Egerton was serious now.

　　"Yes," he said. "You‘ve got a lot of money. Your father was a veryrich man. You were his only child. When he died, the title and the estate went to acousin. He didn’t like the cousin, so he left all his personalproperty, which was considerable, to his daughter – to you,Elvira. You‘re a very rich woman, or will be, when you aretwenty-one."

　　"You mean I am not rich now?"

　　"Yes," said Egerton, "you’re rich now, but the money is not yours todispose of until you are twenty-one or marry. Until that time it is in the hands of yourTrustees. Luscombe, myself and another." He smiled at her. "We haven‘t embezzled it or anything like that. It’s still there. In fact, we‘ve increased yourcapital considerably by investments."

　　"How much will I have?"

　　"At the age of twenty-one or upon your marriage,you will come into a sum which at a rough estimate would amount to six or seven hundredthousand pounds."

　　"This is a lot," saidElvira, impressed.

　　"Yes, it is a lot. Probably it is because it issuch a lot that nobody has ever talked to you about it much."

　　He watched her as she reflected upon this. Quite aninteresting girl, he thought. Looked an unbelievably milk-and-water Miss, but she was morethan that. A good deal more. He said, with a faintly ironic smile:

　　"Does that satisfy you?"

　　She gave him a sudden smile.

　　"It ought to, oughtn’tit?"

　　"Rather better than winning the pools," he suggested.

　　She nodded, but her mind was elsewhere. Then shecame out abruptly with a question.