The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner Page 0,77
so fast?” asked Evie.
“Yes, I’m afraid,” replied Andrew. “Although we have no reason yet to worry, a potential heir could launch a claim at any point within the next twelvemonth. If they manage to get a court order in their favour, they could then dispose of the property or any portion of it in whatever manner they choose. We want to be ready to make a quick offer should that happen, in the hopes of staving off any other competitive bids.
“Of course, if the estate resolves itself as it should”—Andrew looked pointedly in Frances’s direction—“Miss Knight could then do whatever she wanted with the cottage, so long as it is sold at market value or less. A trustee must not profit—or be perceived as profiting—unduly from a sale of their own asset back to the trust. Even at fair market, we’d still need a court order to approve any such sale by a trustee, although I don’t see any real issue with that, given the charitable purposes of all of this.”
“Exactly how much money do you need?” Mimi asked from her seat on the sofa facing him.
Dr. Gray glanced quickly at Andrew and gave a little cough. “Five thousand pounds, give or take.”
“I’d like to help out then, if I may.” Mimi looked about the room at the faces staring openly in astonishment at the movie star in their midst. “I’d like to pledge five thousand pounds to get this all started.”
Adeline watched with amusement from her chair next to Dr. Gray as both he and Andrew started to chivalrously shake their heads at the offer.
“Miss Harrison, really, that is too generous of you,” Dr. Gray spoke up. “We simply cannot take such a sum from you. I’m afraid we must insist.”
“May I at least provide something of value as collateral then, should you borrow any monies?”
Adeline continued to watch as Dr. Gray practically blushed under Mimi’s persistence.
“In fact, I brought something here today that I could lend to the society.” She took a small velvet box from her purse on the floor next to her and held it open.
Inside sat the two topaz crosses.
“They were acquired for me recently at auction, ironically for exactly five thousand pounds.”
Andrew got up and came over, well aware of the two necklaces from the Sotheby’s catalogue. “May I?” He held the box up to the front window until the afternoon winter light caught the amber in its dwindling rays.
“They belonged to both Jane and her sister—gifts from their sailor brother,” Mimi was telling them all. “They are the only known pieces of jewellery belonging to Austen, in addition to a bracelet and this ring. My engagement ring, actually.”
A little self-consciously she now took the ring off and held it out before her, then watched as Adam, the farmer she had met years ago, came forward shyly. He held the ring in his hand and showed it to Adeline, who had joined him by his side.
“All these objects are only going to increase in value,” Yardley said, speaking up for the first time from his seat next to Mimi on the sofa. “The more money we can raise—and fast—the better.”
“Then let’s get drafting that advertisement, shall we?” Andrew asked the room.
As the rest of the meeting proceeded, Evie Stone remained in the far corner of the drawing room, sitting on a little piano stool that must have belonged to Dr. Gray’s late wife. Evie was indulging her always active imagination as she observed the five trustees before her. For months she had been watching the Knight family’s lawyer not look at Miss Knight whenever he had the chance, and her do the same, and Josephine—as unromantic and tight-lipped as she was—had let something slip once about old Mr. Knight wrecking Miss Frances’s one chance at love with a smart village boy. On the other hand, Mimi and Yardley seemed to be chummy, but in a familiar, brother-sister kind of way.
But years of reading Jane Austen had made Evie alert to characters who, for whatever reason, can’t see things right in front of their noses, and right now she was most intrigued by Adeline Grover and Dr. Benjamin Gray.
Dr. Gray was sitting on the right-hand side of Adeline, and as she took notes, he would occasionally lean over and point out a word or two that she had skipped or got wrong, and Adeline seemed to be vacillating between letting his hand redirect her pen and smacking it away. At one point Evie had got