“Then, please,” said Graham gently. “Start at the beginning. Explain in as much detail as you can. If it is possible for us to help you, then by all means, we will do so.”
Miss Oak nodded and took a deep breath. “The property in question is a disused castle that has belonged to my family for centuries. That is, until forty years ago, when my parents decided to include it as part of my elder sister’s dowry in order for her to secure an aristocratic husband.”
Elizabeth whistled under her breath. “A castle would do the trick.”
“You’d think so, but my sister was lucky enough to make a love match. The Earl of Densmore would have married Arminia if her dowry consisted of no more than a bag of dirt. He didn’t want or need Castle Harbrook. But now that he had it, my brother-in-law discovered he liked it. Rather than implement the comprehensive orphanageplans my sister and I had devised, he remodeled the castle into a country home.”
Of course he had. Elizabeth met her siblings’ gazes. Why provide shelter and education for hundreds of homeless children, when you could use the space for port and billiards instead?
“Although the earl was disinclined to turn the castle into an orphanage or a school while he was alive, he had no quarrel with our philanthropic plans becoming the castle’s eventual fate. He bequeathed the property to his wife in his will, and Arminia rewrote hers to ensure the property would come to me. And then they had a son.”
“Figures,” Elizabeth muttered. Babies were unpredictable little beasts.
Two maids entered the parlor with tea service. Chloe handed her devil-spawn to Faircliffe so she could perform duties as hostess.
“After the birth of their heir, your sister and brother-in-law wrote you out of their wills?” Elizabeth asked.
Miss Oak looked up from her tea. “No. The earl rewrote his to bequeath everything but the castle to his son, presuming the child would care for his own mother. Arminia’s only property to speak of would be the castle, which remained bequeathed to me in her testament.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Tommy asked.
“No one has seen Arminia’s will in years,” Miss Oak replied grimly. “And without a document stating otherwise, the new Earl of Densmore is the de facto heir of both of his parents’ holdings. Including Castle Harbrook.”
Jacob frowned. “Didn’t you mention a lawyer?”
Miss Oak nodded. “The same one oversaw the writing of both wills. He kept a copy in his office, and left the originals with my sister and brother-in-law. When the earl died, his testament was found in the top drawer of his desk, as one might imagine. When Arminia passed of the same illness the following morning…”
Philippa gasped. “Someone stole her will to keep the castle from becoming an orphanage?”
“Was it the nephew?” Elizabeth demanded. “I’ll kill him for you.”
“My nephew doesn’t care about much of anything, save the gaming tables,” Miss Oak said with a sigh. “I was his governess until he went to Eton. Densmore was unfocused and impulsive, but a good lad at heart. I trust that is still the case. The real problem, I fear, is my sister.”
Tommy raised her brows. “Your… dearly departed sister?”
Miss Oak nodded. “Arminia has always been too clever for her own good, and an ardent devotee of puzzles. When we were children, she loved to devise elaborate riddles in which one could find a hidden treasure by following a series of cryptic clues. I never made it past the first step and quickly tired of such games, but the earl adored puzzles as much as he worshipped Arminia. Their favorite pastime was leaving each other complex riddles to solve.”
“Oh no.” Philippa winced. “You mean the countess hid her will decades ago, believing her husband could easily follow the clues to find it, only for him to die first and her immediately after, before she had the opportunity to ensure the document made its way to your hands.”
“In fact,” Marjorie said, “as far as Arminia knew, this puzzle for her husband was just a private game. She never expected anyone else to have to decipher it.”
“That is exactly the situation.” Miss Oak’s eyes were bleak. “As you can see, it’s hopeless.”
“Not at all,” said Tommy. “Philippa is brilliant with codes and puzzles of every kind. What are the clues? Perhaps we can solve it right now.”
“That’s just it,” said Miss Oak. “I don’t have any clues. And even if I did, they were meant for the earl to understand, not me.”
“What do you have?” Elizabeth asked.
“Scores of letters from Arminia detailing our future plans,” Miss Oak answered. “Castle Harbrook was to become a place for children to grow and learn and gain secure employment. We planned to employ underprivileged instructors who are just as worthy. And now none of it will come to pass. Worst of all—”
“You haven’t told us the worst part?” Adrian said in disbelief.
“Every part is the worst part.” Miss Oak’s shoulders drooped. “The only will that surfaced was the prior earl’s, which means everything now belongs to my nephew. And other than a brief glimpse of Densmore at the funeral, I’ve not laid eyes on him since.”
“Dastardly,” Elizabeth said with disgust.
Miss Oak’s mouth tightened. “That lad is fully aware that his mother and I wished to turn the castle into a school and orphanage. Even if we haven’t yet found Arminia’s will, Densmore knows what it says. To then prevent me from fulfilling our dream… his mother’s dream…” Her voice cracked.
