“Will you be all right?” Anette asked.
“I have been shot, stabbed and tortured,” Fredrick replied. “I can handle speaking to Clarissa and Calvin.”
Anette patted his sleeve. “I still feel as if I should wish you luck.”
Fredrick headed towards the drawing room and saw Clarissa and Calvin were pacing back and forth in the small room. He thought it was best if he made his presence known.
“Clarissa. Calvin,” he greeted. “What an unexpected surprise.”
Clarissa rushed towards him and stopped in front of him. “You must help us,” she said. “Father wasn’t in his right mind when he wrote that will, and he has ruined us.”
“Why do you believe he wasn’t in his right mind?” Fredrick inquired.
Tossing up her hands, she asked, “What other explanation is there?”
“We intend to contest the will, but we were hoping for your support when we do so,” Calvin said. “If we can rally support for our plight, we might convince the judge to rule in our favor.”
Fredrick ran a hand through his hair. He felt some compassion for their situation but it would be a grand waste of time and money. Furthermore, he had every intention of honoring Sir Charles’ will.
“I’m sorry, but I do believe it is pointless to contest the will,” Fredrick said.
“But we have to try,” Clarissa cried out. “Father only left each of us ten thousand pounds. Can you imagine?”
“That is a fortune to some,” Fredrick attempted.
“Not to me and certainly not to you,” Clarissa said. “Can you believe that he left his entire fortune to a country bumpkin? You should have seen the way she was dressed at the reading of the will. She looked like a servant in her simple gown. It was pathetic, really. I would rather die than been seen in such a drab gown.”
“Precisely, you have class, which is something that upstart does not have. I doubt she even knows what to do with Father’s fortune. She is probably too simple to understand the intricacies that go along with handling such a vast sum,” Calvin stated.
“She will squander it on whatever poor people tend to waste their money on,” Clarissa remarked.
Fredrick frowned. “I will not have you insult Miss Sutherland in my home. She is struggling with her change of fortune, just as you are.”
Clarissa’s mouth gaped open. “You have befriended the upstart?”
“We met briefly in the park yesterday and I called upon her today with Anette,” he replied.
In a swift motion, Clarissa threw herself down onto the settee and let out a loud, drawn-out sigh. “How could you betray us like this?” she demanded.
“I do not see it as a betrayal…” Fredrick started.
Calvin put his hand up, stilling his words. “My father was your godfather. I just assumed you would be loyal to our family above all else.”
Fredrick didn’t dare point out that Miss Sutherland was now included in Sir Charles’ family.
“Come along, Clarissa,” Calvin ordered with a clenched jaw. “Fredrick has shown his true colors, and it is not a good look on him.”
Clarissa rose from the sofa in the most dramatic way imaginable. “This isn’t over,” she said. “Once our fortune has been restored, we will remember how you treated us.”
“I do apologize if I upset you—”Fredrick attempted.
Calvin cut him off. “You can stop pretending that you care a whit about us,” he said. “You would stoop so low as to side with someone that isn’t worthy to lick my bootstraps.”
As Fredrick opened his mouth to argue that point, Calvin held his hand out to his sister. “Don’t bother walking us out. We know the way.”
Fredrick remained rooted in his spot as Calvin and Clarissa departed from the drawing room. Surely they knew they were on the losing end of the fight. Sir Charles was nothing, if not meticulous. He had little doubt that the will would stand up in court.
Anette’s voice came from the doorway. “They are gone,” she informed him. “They huffed and puffed as they stormed out of the door.”