Without waiting for Aunt Agnes’s reply, I walked down the corridor in the direction of the front door of the townhome.
Aunt Agnes’s sneering words echoed through the corridor. “Oh, and what will you do, Juliet? Go and grovel before the duke?”
She’d spoken louder than she intended. At her words, the guests around us fell silent. The crowd drew back to let me by, and I came face-to-face with Halstead.
He’d heard every word.
His mouth pressed into a firm line.
My eyes grew wide, the pain of my loss so fierce I felt as though my heart had been shredded. Emotion barreled through me with such force I could hardly keep my feet. I didn’t bother turning back, only tried to keep my voice from trembling as I answered. “No, I have no right to ask for his help. I will find Harry myself.” My knees wobbled for only a moment as I brushed by him.
I closed the distance to the door, my steps resolute. Once I’d been given my things, I drew my cloak about me and stepped outside. Hot breaths of frustration poured out of me, creating small clouds that puffed into the winter air. For a moment my shoulders hunched as the weight of my responsibility and the utter hopelessness of the situation bore down on me.
But I had no time for despair. I thought of my father, of his long, determined strides, and I moved toward the street, where I hailed one of the waiting hacks.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I’d been staring at the wood paneling in the solicitor’s office for more than two hours. The fire had died down since my arrival, but I gave it no heed. Nothing could reach the cold that rested in my middle.
“Mr. Grimshaw will see you now, Miss Graham.” The balding clerk bid me follow him. My stomach churned.
I trailed him woodenly into a rather small office. Its decor was minimal but well attended, everything orderly and set in its place. Much like the man who stood at the desk to greet me.
“Won’t you take a seat, Miss Graham?” Mr. Grimshaw’s gray hair was flawlessly combed back, his glasses perfectly balanced on his nose. Just the sort of person one would want to be in charge of their monetary affairs.
I seated myself in a maroon chair, wondering if its previous occupants had felt as unsettled as I did.
Mr. Grimshaw examined me for a brief moment before retaking his seat. “I do apologize for the wait—I know you wished to see me on a matter of some urgency. I have pulled out all of the paperwork.” He motioned to a few stacks of paper, all aligned with precision.
If only my life could be arranged so easily.
He cleared his throat, clasping his hands on the desk in front of him. “Why don’t we get right to it.”
My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. “Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Grimshaw. I appreciate you doing so on such short notice.” I swallowed a sigh, trying to tamp down any obvious signs of anxiousness. “As you know, Harry and I have been in my aunt’s keeping ever since my mother’s passing, and Aunt Agnes has received a monthly stipend to see to our care.” Even knowing how desperate my plight was, I could feel nothing but relief to be free of her.
“Yes.” Mr. Grimshaw gave a curt nod. His glasses stayed perfectly in place.
“Well, you see, I’ve had a bit of a falling out with my aunt. My brother has run away . . .” I clamped down on my admission, on the words that would send me into a bout of tears, if I let them. Better to state my need baldly. “And though I am still two weeks away from my twenty-first birthday, I hoped there might be some way I could be given an allowance, just to hold me over until the official date when I come into my inheritance. A small amount, really. Just enough for somewhere to stay.”
My words hung in the air, along with my faint and only hope.
Mr. Grimshaw’s face revealed nothing, but he unclasped his hands and straightened the already meticulous papers that lay on the desk in front of him. The ensuing silence was excruciating.
“Mr. Grimshaw?”
He shifted in his seat, the first sign that he might be a little uncomfortable. He scanned the paperwork before him. “Miss Graham, this is the part of my job I take no pleasure in. Much as I might wish to grant you an allowance, I have not the power. Your father and I hammered out the details of these documents together, ensuring the wording was ironclad. And I’m afraid they make it quite impossible for me to provide you access to your money until you are twenty-one or married.”
Something twisted in my gut. “But the documents were drawn up for mine and Harry’s protection, to guarantee our wellbeing. I do not understand how they can deny me what I so desperately need.”
“Miss Graham.” His words were not stern, but his expression was grim. “I am afraid my hands are tied, even in a situation such as this. The wording of the documents doesn’t allow for contingencies, dire though your situation might be. In fact, your aunt wrote me a few weeks ago asking me the same thing, and I had to give her the same answer. I wish I had a better answer for you. But on the very morning of your birthday, I can release the funds you require.”
The faint hope within me guttered as quickly as a flame starved of air. My head swam, and even though I sat, the chair seemed to shift beneath me. “I see,” was all I could manage to
