“Mama’s?” Elizabeth drew her brows together. “I do not understand.”
Mr Gardiner passed the letter back to Elizabeth. “It is an old settlement—older than your grandfather, and older still than his father. A trust attached to the Lantern property. It has, for generations, passed through the daughters of that branch.”
“Through the daughters?” Kitty repeated. “Why, that is turning the matter on its head, is it not, Lizzy?”
Elizabeth glanced at her sister, then back to her uncle.
“Indeed,” he said, resuming his seat opposite her. “To the eldest unmarried daughter upon her majority. Provided she accept the charge.”
“Why daughters?” Elizabeth asked.
Mr Gardiner’s mouth curved faintly. “Because the woman who first endowed the landintended it so.”
“A woman?” Kitty said, leaning forward against the arm of the chaise. “Oh, do tell, Uncle.”
“Oh, I do not know how much there is to tell. Your great-great-grandmother’s aunt, if I recall the line correctly. She never married. The tower was raised upon her portion of the coast nearly two centuries ago, after a wreck that cost several lives. She settled the property by instrument, stipulating that its oversight remain in the female line.”
Elizabeth considered this. “But why?”
“She believed,” he said mildly, “that sons are too easily persuaded by profit. A reef may be cleared. A shoal may be charted differently. A light may be improved or replaced. But a promise, once attached to commerce, becomes negotiable.”
Mary, who had re-entered unnoticed and now stood near the mantel with her book in hand, looked up at that. “It was an act of moral foresight, then.”
“Perhaps,” Mr Gardiner allowed. “Or perhaps she simply preferred to see the matter entrusted to those who would not be tempted to dispose of it.”
Kitty frowned faintly. “Dispose of a lighthouse?”
“It sits upon desirable... no.Valubleground,” he said. “And has done for many years.”
Elizabeth lowered her eyes to the page once more. The language returned to her with altered emphasis:in light of the approaching attainment of majority... change in stewardship... formal acknowledgment required.
“Is there income attached to it?”
Mr Gardiner’s mouth curved faintly. “No.”
She blinked. “None at all?”
“None that would tempt your mother or your aunt Philips, I assure you. Were there, they would not have relinquished the matter so readily in their youth. The charge came to each of them, in their turns, and was rejected by both. With so little regret, I might add, that I doubt either of them has ever mentioned it again.”
Kitty gave a small, startled laugh, which subsided when Elizabeth shot her a look.
“What, then, is the charge?” Elizabeth asked.
“The oversight of the Lantern’s endowment. Certain responsibilities attached to its maintenance. Correspondence with trustees. Occasional presence, in former years, though that has grown less frequent. I believe it is more symbolic than burdensome in these latter days.”
Elizabeth’s fingers tightened slightly upon the edge of the page. “It should have fallen to Jane,” she whispered.
Mr Gardiner did not answer at once. He tugged his spectacles off his face and dropped his hand to his knee. “Yes,” he said at last.
Kitty’s needle slipped from her grasp and fell soundlessly into her lap, sending her fumbling to find it again.
Elizabeth read the line again. ...attainment of majority... “Did she know?”
He inclined his head slowly. “A letter was sent to her at Lynwood, shortly before—” He paused. “Well. Shortly after she took up her post.”
“And she meant to accept?”
“I believe she did. She wrote to me on the subject. She wished first to complete the term she had agreed upon at Lynwood. It was her view that she ought not abandon an obligation once undertaken, but I believe there was some complication with the deadline of her acceptance.”
