“Please continue, Mr. Laybarrow.”
The Duke, watching Verena, realised that this formality was a great strain, but she held herself proudly and, although she was very pale, she was completely composed.
“These instructions,” Mr. Laybarrow carried on, “were written and signed eighteen months ago on July 5th 1822.”
“I, Alexander Frederick Conrad Winchcombe, bearing the rank of General and being a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, leave everything I possess, my estate, house and monies, to my grand-daughter, Verena Winchcombe, to inherit at the age of twenty-one years or sooner should she marry.
However in the event of my dying before she attains her majority, I now ask my good friend and lawyer, Arthur Critchwick, to appoint a Guardian to administer her possessions and to ensure t
