Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt (free e novels .TXT) 📕

forgiving man. He himself had followed a strict moral code and he felt it was incumbent on others to do likewise. There were violent scenes and during one of them Effie broke down and confessed that she had been unfaithful. She wouldn't admit though that Silva was the result of this. The fact was that your father was never sure and the sight of the child roused all his suspicions and he could not bear to look at her. Effie died of pneumonia when the child was quite young; she had never taken very much care of herself. Her life was unhappy but she did worry a great deal about Silva."

"Poor Silva! Couldn't my father see that whatever had happened wasn't her fault?"

"He could see that of course, but he didn't want to see her all the same. He used to say: 'Keep that child out of my sight.'"

"She knew it," I cried. "It warped her life. It was cruel of him."

"Self-righteous people are often cruel, Miss Kellaway. And I didn't think you'd really like to hear too much about your father's life."

"But I want to know. Then he married my mother. What of their life together?"

"He hoped for something from that. He met your mother on one of his trips to London and he changed a little when he brought her back to the Island. But she found the place oppressive. She felt cut off and was far from happy here. They weren't compatible and I think he was very disillusioned when he realized he had made another mistake. The fact is, Miss Kellaway, he was not a man for marriage. His temper was too short; he expected too much. It was the same with the Island. He was not popular with the people. He was too stern. He called himself just and he was, but people like human feelings in their relationships. If they get that, they'll forgive a little injustice now and then. As a matter of fact, the Island is a much happier place now—and oddly enough more prosperous—than it was in your father's time."

"Jago is for the Island heart and soul," I said.

"Jago is a very ambitious man—in a great many ways more suited to rule the Island than your father was. Your father resented Jago in a way because he knew this. There was often a sort of tension between them. Jago, on the other hand, believes himself to be so much more capable of running the Island—which indeed he proved himself to be—and I suppose naturally he felt a certain bitterness because he belonged to the illegitimate branch of the family."

"My father realized this since he left everything to Jago, I suppose."

Fenwick looked at me incredulously. "But by now you must be aware of the contents of the will."

"My father's will, you mean?"

"Certainly. You are the heiress of the Island. I know your age, because I remember the year you were born. You will be twenty-one next year and that is when you will come into your inheritance."

"My inheritance?"

"Certainly. Your father was a man with a strong sense of justice.

You were his daughter. He was sure of that as he could not be sure of your half sister. Jago was to hold the estate in trust for you until you were twenty-one, when it becomes yours. If you died without heirs your half sister—because after all he was not entirely sure that she was not his daughter also—was to inherit. In the event of your both dying without heirs, everything was to go to Jago. So Jago now holds the Island until your twenty-first birthday."

I was astounded. I, who had thought of myself so often as the Poor Relation, had, all the time, been a considerable heiress.

"Your father was a very rich man, Miss Kellaway. Of course, his fortune is all tied up in the Island, but with the price of land as it is today and the prosperity of the Island—particularly in the last few years—you stand to inherit something in the region of a million pounds."

I... a millionairess!

"It's fantastic," I cried. "Are you sure this is true? I have heard nothing of it."

"I am astonished. Surely Jago informed you of all this when you came to the Island. I heard you were there and I thought you had come because of this."

"I knew nothing of it. I was invited to come on a visit because of something tragic which had happened in London."

He nodded. "Yes, I know. It was in the papers. It's most extraordinary."

"Are you sure you are not mistaken?"

"I may be, of course. I should be very surprised if I were though. Your father discussed these matters often with me. I was more than a secretary. I used to look after him personally. He trusted me. We were of a kind, and I understood his ways. He said it was unfortunate that he had not known you since you were three years old; he said that on his death you must return to the Island and learn about it and he hoped that you would come to love it. He knew how dedicated Jago was to the place and that he was leaving it in good hands, and he hoped that you would realize that Jago was necessary to the Island and to you. 'Of course,' he once said to me, 'she will marry no doubt and if she has a husband he might be able to do for the Island all that Jago does. That will be a matter for her to decide.'"

I was speechless. This had completely changed my outlook on everything that had happened. I, the heiress of the Island. I ... a millionairess on my twenty-first birthday—and that but a few months distant.

I said at length: "I came here hoping to learn something about my father and Silva, whom I believe to be my half sister, and instead I learn this."

"My great surprise is that you didn't already know."

"I thought I was there as Jago's