Dance to Your Daddy

'The plot thickens in the most agreeable way. I am no longer able to keep Laura's fingers out of the pie.'

'Of course, the obvious point to consider is this: if Romilly isn't Romilly, who the devil is he?'

'If you can tell me who Felix Napoleon's lawyers were, I hope to be able to find that out.'

'Well, I'll enquire around. I know he'd chucked the Marshall-Provost gang-their solicitors, I mean.'

(3)

The older members of Snapp, Snapp and Bacon had preceded their client to the grave, but, although there were no Snapps left, a scion of the Bacons was senior partner in the firm, and had brought a son and a nephew into the business. It was the older Bacon who received Dame Beatrice.

'Upon receipt of your letter,' he said, 'I looked up the relevant facts. In 1960, on the death of his natural son Caesar, Mr Felix Napoleon Lestrange altered his Will. Up to that time the provisions were not quite as they are at present. For one thing, they made Caesar a beneficiary to the same extent as his brother. Both, as you know, were born out of wedlock, so, until 1944, when the legitimate son Harvard was killed in the war, Harvard had been in the position of sole heir in respect of his father's property, with the exception of legacies of five thousand pounds each to his half-brothers, Romilly and Caesar.

'Upon Harvard's death, however, the Will was somewhat materially changed. For one thing, at her father's death, which occurred in January, 1944, Rosamund, who, from the twenty-ninth of May next, will have a life-interest in her grandfather's wealth, irrespective of her possible marriage, was still en ventre sa mere. The new Will, therefore, gave her a life-interest after she had attained the age of twenty-five. Up to that time we, as Felix Napoleon's solicitors, were empowered to maintain her and her mother in the event of Felix Napoleon's dying before she reached her twenty-fifth year, but, as it happened, the mother died in giving birth, and Felix Napoleon assumed full responsibility for the baby and had her to live with him until his death, a couple of years ago.'

'Did you approve of her going to live with Romilly Lestrange after her grandfather's death?'

'We made careful enquiries, but there seemed nothing we could object to in the scheme and, in any case, as the young lady was of age, we could have acted in an advisory capacity only, which is exactly what we did. We advised against it, but she was obdurate.'

'What was the reason for your advice?'

'The fact, which we felt bound to point out to her, that Romilly Lestrange, under the terms of Felix Napoleon's last Will, had an interest in her death, once she had attained the age of twenty-five years. The money, as you probably know, Dame Beatrice, was left in trust for Miss Rosamund Lestrange. She could not touch the capital. After her death, however, or if she were proved incapable of managing her affairs, Romilly became the heir. We had to choose our words, of course, very carefully, but I think we made it clear to her that these provisions might make it highly unsatisfactory for her to become a member of Mr Romilly's household.'

'There was never any suggestion that Romilly had married her, of course?'

'My dear lady, how could there be? She is his half-brother's daughter.'

'Of course,' said Dame Beatrice meekly. 'Was your advice given to her by word of mouth?'

'No. She refused to come and see us, or to let us go and see her. The first letter we received about the new arrangement came from Romilly, and merely informed us that as he was now domiciled permanently in England, he proposed to ask Rosamund to share his home. Upon this we wrote to ask the young lady for an interview, but this she refused to grant us. There was nothing, therefore, for us to do but to send her our extremely carefully-worded warning that her uncle's plans to give her a home might not he completely altruistic, pay her her quarterly allowance, and leave it at that. I do not see how we could have taken any more definite a course. As I pointed out, she was of age and, in a sense, we were not her lawyers. By that, of course, I mean that we had no powers, except to make sure that the terms of the bequest were carried out.'

'You mentioned that Romilly wrote to say that he was now permanently domiciled in England. I understood that, soon after he left the University, Romilly emigrated to Kenya.'

'Oh, yes, he did. Mr Felix Napoleon put up the money for him to buy a half-share in a coffee plantation there.'

'Did you ever meet Romilly?'

'Before he emigrated to Kenya with his natural father's assistance, I had nothing to do with him at all, nor with his brother Caesar. I do know, however, that Caesar left two sons. One of them went into the Church, I believe, and Felix Napoleon employed the other as his secretary, but, again, I never had any occasion to meet either of them.'

'Were these sons close friends? How did they get on together?'

'I have no idea. I have read, of course, in the newspapers, of the tragic death of one of them, and I believe the other is missing.'

'Yes. In my capacity of psychiatric adviser to the Home Office, I am semi-officially engaged in helping with the police investigation into these matters, and I am most grateful to you for giving up your time to me and providing me with so much useful information.'

'Yes,' said the solicitor dubiously. 'Of course, when you came, I had no idea that it was on police business. I trust that you will not need to involve us. We have always had the reputation...'

'I understand that, and I see no need whatever to involve you. I needed to be certain of my facts, that is all. I wonder whether you will be kind enough to tell me one more thing. Have you any idea of Felix Napoleon's last address?'

'I have the last letter he wrote us. It was from a hotel in Carlisle, if my memory serves me.' He touched the buzzer. 'Mr Felix Napoleon Lestrange's file, Pearson, if you please... Yes, here we are. He wrote a vile hand, but you can probably make out the address at the top of the letter.'

CHAPTER TEN

ST VITUS' DANCE-THREE WISE MONKEYS