The Sins of the Father - By Jeffrey Archer Page 0,111

last seen her, but then she'd only been a schoolgirl at the time. Now Grace was in her final year at Cambridge and about to sit her exams. She told him with pride that for a couple of years she'd worked on a farm, not going back up to Cambridge until she was convinced the war was won.

It was with sadness that Harry learnt from Lady Barrington that her husband, Sir Walter, had passed away, a man Harry had admired second only to Old Jack.

His uncle Stan never visited him.

As the days went by, Harry thought about raising the subject of Emma's father, but he sensed that even the mention of his name was off-limits.

And then one evening, after Harry's doctor had told him that it wouldn't be too long before they released him, Emma lay down next to him on the bed and told him that her father was dead.

When she came to the end of her story, Harry said, 'You've never been good at dissembling, my darling, so perhaps the time has come to tell me why the whole family is so on edge.'
Chapter 43
HARRY WOKE the next morning to find his mother, along with the whole Barrington family, seated around his bed.

The only absentees were Sebastian and his uncle Stan, neither of whom it was felt would have made a serious contribution.

'The doctor has said you can go home,' said Emma.

'Great news,' said Harry. 'But where's home? If it means going back to Still House Lane and living with Uncle Stan, I'd prefer to stay in hospital - even go back to prison.' No one laughed.

'I'm now living at Barrington Hall,' said Giles, 'so why don't you move in with me? Heaven knows there are enough rooms.'

'Including a library,' said Emma. 'So you'll have no excuse not to continue working on your novel.'

'And you can come and visit Emma and Sebastian whenever you want to,' added Elizabeth Barrington.

Harry didn't respond for some time.

'You're all being very kind,' he eventually managed, 'and please don't think I'm not grateful, but I can't believe it needed the whole family to decide where I'm going to live.'

'There's another reason we wanted to talk to you,' said Lord Harvey, 'and the family have asked me to speak on their behalf.'

Harry sat bolt upright, and gave Emma's grandfather his full attention.

'A serious issue has arisen concerning the future of the Barrington estate,' began Lord Harvey. 'The terms of Joshua Barrington's will have turned out to be a legal nightmare, rivalled only by Jarndyce and Jarndyce, and could end up being just as financially crippling.'

'But I have no interest in either the title or the estate,' said Harry. 'My only desire is to prove that Hugo Barrington was not my father, so I can marry Emma.'

'Amen to that,' said Lord Harvey. 'However, complications have arisen that I must acquaint you with.'

'Please do, sir, because I can't see that there's any problem.'

'I'll try to explain. Following Hugo's untimely death, I advised Lady Barrington that as she had recently suffered two onerous demands for death duties, and remembering that I am over seventy, it might be wise for our two companies, Barrington's and Harvey's, to join forces. This, you understand, was at a time when we still believed you were dead. Therefore, it seemed that any dispute over who would inherit the title and the estate had, however unhappily, been resolved, making it possible for Giles to take his place as head of the family.'

'And he still can, as far as I'm concerned,' said Harry.

'The problem is that other interested parties have become involved and the implications now go far beyond the people in this room. When Hugo was killed, I took over as chairman of the newly merged company, and asked Bill Lockwood to return as managing director. Without blowing my own trumpet, Barrington Harvey has paid its shareholders a handsome dividend for the past two years, despite Herr Hitler. Once we realized you were still alive, we took legal advice from Sir Danvers Barker KC, to be sure that we were not in breach of the terms of Joshua Barrington's will.'

'If only I'd opened that letter,' said Maisie, almost to herself.

'Sir Danvers assured us,' continued Lord Harvey, 'that as long as you renounce any claim to the title or the estate, we could continue trading as we had for the previous two years. And indeed, he drew up a document to that effect.'

'If someone hands me a pen,' said Harry, 'I'll happily