About this story
A separate fund turns out to be legally yours, and you spend the evening deciding how much belongs to your uncle's debts rather than your independence. When your oldest friend Cecilia marries without a word, you choose how to answer the silence, and at Clarendon Park, Lady Davenant draws you into her confidence over letters from a young man named Granville Beauclerc she has not explained.
How it opens
Dean Stanley's death left you walking in mourning while the Collingwoods studied accounts he had concealed.
Mrs CollingwoodHelen expects grief, not the disgrace she will imagine in every unpaid debt.
Mr CollingwoodHis art, books, and improvements will sell for far less than he spent acquiring them.
Mr CollingwoodDelay cannot improve the truth; she must know there is no inheritance and many creditors.
He had received your uncle's last instruction to act as guardian but no fund sufficient for the estate.
Mrs CollingwoodTell her gently, and do not let figures sound like an accusation against the dead.