Amy (The Daughters of Allamont Hall Book 1) Read Online Free

towards the empty chair beside the fire, where his cousin had been wont to sit. “And you feel obliged to continue the practice?”
    “What else should we be doing?” Lady Sara said to him equably.
    “I hardly know. A thousand things more enjoyable, I should imagine. However, I fell out with Greek a great many years ago, and it with me, so it is no use asking my opinion on the matter. Amy may recite in Greek if she wishes. All of you may do exactly as you please, now. You are free of William’s rules. But enough of that. How are you bearing up?”
    “As well as might be expected, Henry,” Lady Sara answered in her placid way. “I depend upon you to take care of me now, cousin, for I am quite alone.”
    “Well, as to that, you may always turn to your father if you need help, Sara,” he said briskly. “Lord Harkwood never got along with William, but he has always held you in affection. And you have four brothers and two sisters who will be very glad to offer you whatever assistance you might need. Although it seems to me that you are rather well set up here. You have the income from the estate, after all, which must be substantial.”
    She said nothing, turning her head away from him as if he had offended her.
    He took the hint to change the subject. “Amy, I am happy to see you again. You are well, I trust? Not too distressed by this will, eh?”
    She hardly knew how to answer that, so she addressed only the simpler question. “I am well, thank you, Cousin Henry.”
    “Excellent! You must find it a strange business, this tying up of the dowries. I cannot imagine what my cousin meant by it.”
    There was no answer possible, so Amy made none, clasping her hands together in her lap and casting her eyes downwards.
    Cousin Henry turned back to Amy’s mother. “Forgive me, Sara, but I must speak bluntly. I do not at all like the odd way matters have been left. To set aside so much money for the girls and then hedge it about with conditions. And leaving the estate to whichever of the boys marries one of the girls. It was badly done of William, very badly done.”
    This was a shocking suggestion to Amy, for surely Papa knew what he was about? It may have seemed a strange provision, but he must have had a good reason for it.
    “You know what sort of man he was, Henry,” Lady Sara said mildly. “He liked everything just so.” There was a hesitation in her manner. “Henry, you must be disappointed that he chose not to leave the estate to you . Or the Shropshire house, perhaps. It would have been a help to you.”
    “I should have liked something for Mary, at least,” he said. “Well, it is done and we must make the best of it.”
    “You do not suppose, then, that we may over-set the terms of the will, if we take the matter to law?”
    He thought for a moment. “I am not sure that you would be successful in such a suit. A judge may well consider that William was taking very good care of his family by these conditions. The girls must marry, after all, and it is customary for the elder to marry before the younger. It is an unusual provision, perhaps, but not especially detrimental to the girls, nor onerous, given the astonishing size of their dowries. I should warn you that James is champing at the bit to help one of the girls keep the Hall, so I fear you must bear a deal of his company. He and Mary will be here shortly, but I came ahead to talk to you privately first.”
    She inclined her head graciously in acknowledgement. “That was thoughtful, but you need not be concerned. James is always welcome here. As indeed are all of you. I trust we will see you more frequently now.”
    “That is my hope, also.” His tone softened as he spoke, a little smile playing on his lips.
    “Perhaps if we are expecting additional company, we should go to the drawing room after all. Amy, dear, you will not mind your lesson being curtailed? For it is a kindness in our cousins to visit us in our grief.”
    Amy followed as they