"P. N. Elrod - Jonathan Barrett 01 - Red Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

ide.
"But I don't have to go ... do I?"
Father did not answer right away. Elizabeth's hand, resting on mine, tightene
d.
"Father?"
Always decisive and in control, he hesitated, frowning at the floor. "I'll talk
to her," he said.
"Talk to . . . ? What does that mean?"
His chin snapped up and I shrank inside. But his face softened and the rebu
ke for my insolence went unspoken. "It means that both of you need to know
what's really beneath all this so you can understand and make the best of t
hings."
That didn't sound too terribly hopeful.
He poured out another swallow of brandy and drained it away, then looked up at
his wife's portrait. "First of all, I did marry your mother because I loved h
er. If her father had realized that, then our lives might have been quite diff
erent. Whether for good or for ill, I could not say, but different, perhaps.
"All this took place in England. You know that I went to Cambridge myself.
I was out and working with old Roylston when I met Judge Fonteyn and his fa
mily. He was wealthy but always looking to either increase it or raise his
status in society. I did not fit his idea of an ideal son-in-law and he saw
me not as I was, but as he perceived me to be. He put himself in my place
and assumed that I was paying court to his daughter for his money.
"Admittedly, the money made your mother that much more attractive to me, bu
t it was never my real goal. We might have even eloped, but Marie persuaded
him to consent to our marriage. He did so with ill grace but provided her
with an allowance. He also drew up a paper for me to sign, stipulating that
this allowance was hers and hers alone and I was not to touch it. I signed
it readily enough. He was surprised that 1 did, and at the same time conte
mptuous. There was no pleasing the old devil."
That sounded familiar, I thought.
"The marriage took place and we were happy for a time, at least we were whe
n there was sufficient distance between your mother and her family. Her fat
her was a terrible tyrant, couldn't and wouldn't abide me, and it was becau
se of him that I decided to leave England altogether. Marie went along with
 it, because in those days she still loved me. You both know how we came to
settle here, but it was your mother's money that bought this place and it
still pays for the servants and the taxes."
"The paper you signed . . .," said Elizabeth, beginning to see. It was like cry
stal to me.
"Means that I own none of this." He gestured, indicating the house and all
the lands around it. "I have Archimedes, Jericho, and whatever I've gleaned
from my practice. Now, I have made something of a living for myself, but a
s a rule, lawyers enjoy far more social status than they do money. When Fon
teyn died, he divided his fortune between his daughters. There was quite a
sum involved, but I'd promised to touch none of it and have kept to that pr
omise. It... has never bothered me before."
"So Mother is paying for my education," I said.
"She always has. It was she who hired Rapelji, for example "And mine, too?
" asked Elizabeth.