Page 81 of Miss Determined
Purvis gripped the arms of the chair. “What in blazes were you doing discussing rents with the DeWitt women? I know they’re back in Town, the oldest daughter swanning about as if her fortune can overcome the stink of the shop. Whatever they told you, they were playing on your sympathies, my lord. Ladies all alone in the world, not a penny to spare when I have generously tripled their allowances in hopes they can finally get the damned girl launched.”
Amaryllis’s money was hers, promised to her by her father, held in trust for her and her alone. That Purvis saw himself doling out those funds like a weekly coin given to a child in exchange for good behavior… That he was ever so helpfully trying to assist the DeWitts in a hopeless cause…
How did I ever trust this pompous, lying old windbag?
Trevor rose and went to the window. “I’ve inquired of my other tenants, and if the property is unentailed, then the rents were raised without my permission, and much of the higher sum went unreported on the tally sheets you gave me. You are embezzling at a great rate, Purvis, and the tenants will happily testify to that effect. You will be held accountable for your actions, of that I am certain.”
To inform the man of his long-overdue fate brought little satisfaction, merely a sense of a distasteful obligation approaching its conclusion.
“This matter need not go to the courts,” Trevor went on. “You can simply pay back to the tenants the funds you unlawfully took from them—I’ve done the accounting, though I want Jones to have a look at my figures. From what I’ve deduced, your larceny dates from the time Smithers retired, and five years’ damage shouldn’t be that hard to undo. I don’t expect the whole sum overnight, but you will pay on a regular schedule.”
Trevor watched the street below, a hurly-burly of carts, foot traffic, the occasional elegant conveyance or farm wagon wending along as well. England in all her noisy variety, which he had not missed, but ought not to have turned his back on so thoroughly.
“My lord seeks no compensation for himself?” Purvis asked evenly.
“My trust in you is why the tenants could be fleeced, so no. I want nothing for myself, but to see the tenants made whole and you gone from the practice of law. That you have embezzled funds other than the rents is beyond doubt, but again, I was too trusting and left you unsupervised for too long.”
If Purvis begged, Trevor would leave the room. If he pleaded, if he tried any other tactic but contrition and complete reparation, Trevor would—
Purvis chuckled, a sound which struck Trevor as obscene.
“You are so noble, my lord. So commendably selfless. Your father would have been appalled, though I find your devotion to honor equal parts amusing and tiresome.Sit down.”
Trevor remained standing by the window, as far from Purvis as he could get. “I do not take orders from criminals.”
“Yes,” Purvis said, rising. “You do. You shall in the future as well, and that includes courting Miss Hecate Brompton and in due course meeting her at the altar of St. George’s.”
This again. “Miss Brompton is in every way a lovely and estimable woman, but she and Iwill not suit.”
“You will suit, and you will take long holidays on the Continent, confident in the knowledge that your affairs are secure in my capable hands.”
“Are you daft? You’ve stolen from me and from my tenants, and now you think to expand your thievery with my blessing?”
“Oh, curse me if you like,” Purvis said, striking a pose beneath the judicial portrait. “You will nonetheless leave me to deal with your finances as I see fit. I’m not greedy, you must admit that. I didn’t bleed your properties dry, as some would. I charge a reasonable rent and leave you a great enough sum to effect repairs and keep yourself in adequate style.”
He sounded pleased with himself, proud even. The Marquess of Malfeasance.
“And why, Purvis, would I be complicit in your schemes?”
Purvis rocked back on his heels, his smile beatific. “Because if you aren’t complicit, as you put it, then I will let all of polite society know you have a deformed, dim-witted brother for an heir—the fellow is legitimate, lest you get to speculating. Your father thoroughly researched that avenue, but your mother for once put her dainty foot down.”
Phillip was neither deformed nor dim-witted. Trevor’s mind produced that thought before logic assembled the puzzle pieces for him.
Lark’s Nest left off the list of properties.
Lark’s Nest paying only nominal rent.
Lark’s Nest run by Phillip Heyward however he pleased with no toadying to any landlord.
The name Heyward—assumed, apparently, of all the ironies.
Phillip’s unwillingness to venture into the wider world.
The spark of warmth Trevor had felt in Phillip’s company.
The truth settled around Trevor’s heart, whole and happy, albeit… complicated.
“The poor mite couldn’t even crawl properly,” Purvis went on. “I’m told he’s a Squire Lumpkin with one good arm and a positive obsession for all things agriculture. Not even the village girls will marry him. Your father denied the boy’s existence before the lad was a year old. Even the aristocracy suffers the occasional chrisom bereavement.”
