The Legacy Read Online Free Page A

mother’s will and were handsomely provided for. In addition, I made over to them monies and shares that my late wife Josephine left me, including items of furniture, pictures and silver that she brought to RussMore when we married. I have never received affection or support from my eldest son, who opposed my second marriage, and publicly accused me of neglecting his mother and contributing to her drug addiction and death. I therefore feel no obligation to provide for him. He is, in capital terms, much wealthier than I am. My second son, James, is living and working in the United States and doesn’t intend to return to live in England. I therefore direct that Langley Farm and its four hundred acres should be sold and the proceeds used for his benefit under the terms of the trust.’ Humfrey paused and spoke to James Farrington who was watching his elder brother; he looked embarrassed and uneasy. ‘Mr Farrington, I may as well explain at this point that, under the terms of the new trust, the trustees would certainly release the capital sum to you, if you wish to make the funds transferable to the US. Now there are various bequests to members of the estate and household staff, and some charitable bequests as well. Do you all wish these read out? They’re not so substantial that they need concern the family. Mrs Farrington?’
    â€˜Why ask her?’ Alan said harshly. ‘After all, she dictated the bloody will!’ He pushed back his chair. He spoke to Humfrey Stone. His colour had faded now; his eyes burned like coals in the sallow skin. ‘She made my father break the trust and cut me out of my family inheritance. He was an old man dying of cancer and she pressured him to get everything for her daughter and herself. But she’s not going to get away with it. I’ll fight this through to the House of Lords if I have to, but she’s not cheating me out of RussMore.’ He snapped at Humfrey Stone. ‘I’ll want a copy of that will and the trust deed sent to my solicitor, Hamilton Ross. I’m sure you’ll have heard of them. Fay, let’s go.’ He looked over at his brother.
    â€˜Good on you, James. So you’ve been quietly arse-licking over the years behind my back. Clever, aren’t you, Christina? Don’t cut him out; divide and rule …’ He went to the door and again he paused. He wasn’t very tall or physically imposing, but he possessed a dynamic energy that crackled like an electric charge through the whole room.
    â€˜That little brat’, he said softly to Christina, ‘isn’t going to get RussMore. I never believed she was my father’s daughter and I’m going to prove it.’ He went out, leaving the door open.
    It was Wallberg who closed it. He had been sitting in the background, close enough to hear that last exchange and to see the child’s bewildered face. Christina Farrington looked as if she had been punched in the heart. He said, in Swedish, ‘Let me take your little girl out; don’t worry, she wouldn’t have understood.’
    Christina looked at him; she’d hardly noticed the man in the chair behind her. She answered in Swedish, her voice uneven, ‘Thank you … please take her outside … My God if I’d known he’d do something like that …’
    Wallberg held out his hand to Belinda. ‘Your mother says you’ll show me the gardens. I’m Swedish, like her, and I’ve never been to an English house like this … would you mind?’
    â€˜Mum?’ she asked her mother. She looked confused. She’d heard the words but they didn’t seem real … Not her father’s daughter.
    â€˜Lindy, you look after Mr Wallberg, then bring him in for tea. Go along darling.’ Stone came up to her. And after him, looking awkward, James, her stepson.
    â€˜I don’t know what to say,’ Humfrey muttered. ‘I’ve never known anyone