Free A Question of Inheritance by Elizabeth Edmondson

I dare say I should talk to this Mr Seynton,’ Gus said cautiously. ‘But maybe the Christmas season isn’t the best time.’
    ‘There’ll be a purpose to Sonia inviting him now, you may be sure,’ Freya said. ‘And he’ll be going back to London on Christmas Eve.’
    Lady Priscilla dismissed Oliver Seynton with a wave of her hand and brushed a crumb from her breeches. ‘So, Gus, do you plan to live here? Or are you going to finish that Fellowship at Oxford and return to America? It’s a mistake with an estate like this to leave it in the hands of the stewards and land agents. It’s never satisfactory and not good for the tenants, but it’s your decision.’
    Gus said, ‘It’s a decision I’ve already taken. I reckon that since I’ve inherited the title, the seat in the House of Lords, the Castle and all the rest of it, I should make my home in England.’
    Lady Priscilla said, ‘What do your daughters think about that?’
    ‘My younger daughter will need to go to school here, and that’ll accustom her to being English. I’m not sure about my other daughter, Barbara. She’s just come back from a few months in Paris and—’
    Lady Priscilla looked approving. ‘She’s been finished, has she?’
    Gus looked puzzled and Freya came to his rescue. ‘She was there to improve her French.’
    ‘How old is she, seventeen, eighteen? You’ll have to be thinking of bringing her out, Gus.’
    There was another look of mystification on Gus’s face, and once again Freya supplied the missing information. ‘My aunt means that she might do the Season, be a debutante.’
    ‘As for the younger girl, you’ll send her to St Ursula’s. That’s where the Selchester girls go.’
    As if on cue, the door opened and Polly came in, with a world-weary Babs slouching along behind her.
    Polly stopped dead and gazed at Lady Priscilla, who gazed back at her.
    Freya looked from one to the other and nearly burst out laughing. Polly’s plaits and her big round spectacles only slightly disguised the fact that she was extremely like her great-aunt.
    Gus said, ‘Come and meet your great-aunt, Lady Priscilla Veryan. This is Barbara and Pauline. Known in the family as Babs and Polly.’
    Lady Priscilla looked them up and down. She said to Barbara, ‘I hear you’ve been in Paris. It looks to me as though you’ve spent too much time at the Sorbonne listening to those tiresome philosophers.’
    Barbara seemed not to mind this forthright greeting. Freya noticed that when you saw through the thick black eye make-up, her blue Selchester eyes were observant and even shrewd.
    She shrugged, slouched even more and looked down at her feet, a bored expression on her face.
    Lady Priscilla said, ‘For heaven’s sake, stand up straight. You’ll do yourself no good with rounded shoulders like that. Do you ride?’
    This question obviously surprised Barbara and for a moment she did straighten up. Then she said, uninformatively, ‘Yeah, a bit.’
    ‘Come over to Veryan House and I’ll mount you. No good riding that wretched horse of Freya’s, he’ll have you off as soon as look at you.’
    She turned her attention to Polly. ‘What about you? Gus, you’d best buy the girl a pony. Let Ben find you one, he’s a good judge of horseflesh.’
    Polly was definite. ‘No, thank you. I’m afraid of horses. I wouldn’t mind a goat, though.’
    Her father, Freya and Lady Priscilla all stared at her while Barbara, whose eyes had resumed their customary vacant look, gazed out of the window.
    Lady Priscilla said, ‘Good heavens, child, what do you want a goat for?’
    Polly said simply, ‘I like goats.’
    ‘Dirty, difficult beasts. If you want a pet you’d better get yourself a dog.’
    Polly said, ‘No, thank you. Magnus wouldn’t like it.’
    Freya said, ‘If you want a dog, Polly, don’t worry about Magnus. Don’t forget he’ll be coming with me.’
    Polly said, ‘I like Magnus. I like cats and I don’t much care for dogs.’ This was