Edward shot him an amused glance. ‘I had noticed.’
‘Then we are all well off, are we not?’ None of them had as much blunt as Tobias, but that didn’t make them paupers. Freddie was frugal with what money he received. He spent what was required on clothes and entertainment, but his money was saved for his plan and he was dashed close to achieving it. He wouldn’t be able to do that if it wasn’t for his family’s financial position.
‘Sebastian had become obscenely wealthy before he died,’ Edward told him.
‘In America?’
‘Yes,’ said Edward dryly. ‘I believe it is not as wild a frontier as we all have in mind.’
Freddie was glad for the darkness surrounding him. He hated seeming less than intelligent in front of his brothers, but how was he to know anything about America? It wasn’t like he could read the papers and so he only picked up what places were like from gossip. The stories he’d heard about America were all different, but he supposed they must have had a Society that somewhat resembled that of England in that there would be the wealthy elite and then thepoorer people, although he hadn’t imagined anyone getting extremely rich and certainly not his brother. ‘I have not given America very much thought at all,’ he confessed. ‘What do we know about his death?’ Freddie was embarrassed to realise he had not given this a great deal of thought either. He’d obviously been sad at Sebastian’s passing, but he’d had no contact with his older brother in nearly a decade.
‘That it was a carriage accident, but Sebastian was an excellent horseman. I saw him race many times before he left for America. Did you know that he raced?’ Freddie shook his head. Shame curled in his stomach; he hadn’t paid enough attention to his older brother when he’d been alive. ‘He was good. I cannot imagine him making a deadly mistake.’
‘But if he was obscenely wealthy, would he have been driving himself?’
‘Hm.’ Edward’s murmur didn’t sound like an agreement.
They walked in silence for a while. ‘You do not think so.’
‘I think we know so little about his death and that does not sit right with me. I mean, how many carriage accidents are fatal? How many of our acquaintances have we lost this way?’
‘I have not lost any.’
‘Exactly.’
‘But that does not mean it is not possible. We have no idea of the state of the roads in America. They could be like those in… Wales, for instance.’
Edward shot him a cutting look. ‘Have you ever been to Wales?’
‘No. You?’
‘No.’ There was a pause. ‘That is not the point.’
‘Because it does not prove your argument correct?’ It turned out needling his brother so that his wide shoulders tensed in irritation was good fun. Not as enjoyable as making Emily cross and indignant but still better than imagining Sebastian’s death.
‘Wales is not notorious for its carriage deaths either.’ Edward shook his head. ‘We are getting away from the point. Sebastian was a young man who was good with horses and who was travelling with his wife. We do not know if Charlotte was with them, but even if she was not, Sebastian would have had her welfare at heart. He was not a reckless lad, racing his friends. I do not like it, Fred.’
‘You are saying Sebastian was very wealthy and he died in dubious circumstances.’
‘Yes.’
‘Put that way, it does sound suspicious.’ The last vestiges of the wine Freddie had consumed were slowly ebbing away and it was becoming easier to think. Since finding out about Sebastian’s death, Freddie had tried hard not to dwell on it, but Edward was right; there was something wrong about the way Sebastian with his brash decisiveness was no longer with them. ‘But there are many wealthy men and they are not all dying. It could be a tragic coincidence.’ Freddie was not sure whether he was trying to convince himself or Edward. What would it say about the four of them as men if their brother had died over a year ago and they had not thought it suspicious until now?
‘It could.’
They walked on in silence. They were heading home Freddie realised, and what was stranger was that he had referred to Glanmore House as home even in his own mind. He didn’t think he’d ever done that when he’d lived there as a young child. Somehow, the place was growing on him and his brothers were becoming friends, the type of people who confided their worries to you, even if they thought you might find them ridiculous. ‘You do not think it is a coincidence, do you?’
‘Do you know how much Charlotte stands to inherit?’ asked Edward in lieu of a direct answer.
‘No.’ They may have been told at some stage, but Freddie wasn’t interested in other people’s money.
Edward named a sum so vast, Freddie was momentarily winded. ‘He wasthatwealthy.’
‘Some of his fortune went to setting up a foundling home and some has gone to Tobias to pay for Charlotte’s upkeep. I believe we will also receive a share should we perform our guardianship duties to the required standard. The rest of it is left to Charlotte.’
Freddie swore.
Edward snorted. ‘I know.’
