Free Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart Page B

what it might mean."
    "It means that if we don't get moving straight away, Julie'll have wormed her way into Whitescar, and he'll leave her every penny."
    I didn't answer for a moment. I was thinking that Con, even at his most direct, was never coarse, "So you see, this is it," said Lisa, "Yes."
    "Con says it must mean the old man's a bit more nervous about his health than he's admitted. Apparently Julie wrote to him once or twice while he was ill, and he has written back, I know. I'm sure he must have asked her to come up early, for some reason, and he certainly seems as pleased as Punch that she can get away so soon. She said she'd be here next week, some time, but would ring up and let us know. Normally we'd have had till July or August, and anything," said Lisa, bitterly, "could have happened before then. As it is—"
    "Look," I said mildly, "you don't have to hunt round for motives to frighten yourselves with. Perhaps he does just want to see Julie, and perhaps she does just want to see him. It could be as simple as that. Don't look so disbelieving. People are straightforward enough, on the whole, till one starts to look for crooked motives, and then, oh boy, how crooked can they be!"
    Lisa gave that small tight-lipped smile that was more a concession to my tone than any evidence of amusement. "Well, we can't take risks. Con says you'll have to come straight away, before Julie even gets here, or heaven knows what Mr. Winslow'll do."
    "But, look, Lisa—"
    "You'll be all right, won't you? I'd have liked another week, just to make certain."
    "I'm all right. It isn't that. I was going to say that surely Con's barking up the wrong tree with Julie. I don't see how she can possibly be a danger to him, whether she's at Whitescar or not."
    "All I know is," said Lisa, a little grimly, "that she's as like Annabel as two peas in a pod, and the old man's getting more difficult every day... Heaven knows what he might take it into his head to do. Can't you see what Con's afraid of? He's pretty sure Julie's the residuary beneficiary now, but if Mr. Winslow alters his Will before Annabel gets home, and makes Julie the principal.. ."
    "Oh yes, I see. In that case, I might as well not trouble to go any further. But is it likely, Lisa? If Grandfather abandons Annabel at last, and re-makes his Will at all, surely, now, it will be in Con's favour?
    You said Julie's only been to Whitescar for holidays, and she's London bred. What possible prospect—?"
    "That's just the point. Last year, when she was here, she was seeing a lot of one of the Fenwick boys from Nether Shields. It all seemed to blow up out of nothing, and before anyone even noticed it, he was coming over every day, getting on like a house on fire with Mr. Winslow, and Julie .. . well, she did nothing to discourage him."
    I laughed. "Well, but Lisa, what was she? Eighteen?"
    "I know. It's all speculation, and I hope it's nonsense, but you know what a razor's-edge Con's living on, and anything could happen to the old man. Once you're there, things should be safe enough: he'll certainly never leave anything to Julie over your head, but as it is—well, she's his son's child, and Con's only a distant relative . .. and he likes Bill Fenwick."
    I regarded the end of my cigarette. "And did Con never think to set up as a rival to this Bill Fenwick? An obvious move, one imagines. He tried it with Annabel."
    Lisa stirred. "I told you, it never occurred to anyone that she was even adult! She'd just left school! I think Con thought of her as a schoolgirl. Mr. Winslow certainly did; the Fenwick affair amused him enormously."
    "And now she's had a year in London. She'll have probably got further than the boy-next-door stage," I said cheerfully. "You'll find you're worrying about nothing."
    "I hope so. But once you're there at Whitescar, things will be safe enough for Con. Julie won't be seriously in the way."
    I looked at her for a moment. "No. Well, all right. When?"
    There, again, was that