Clarissa needles and threatens

Lucy looked across the long cherrywood table at Edmund and Clarissa Netherwood. Her blood sang in her ears after the unexpected revelation that she was Edmund's elder sister, Lord Jeremy's first child. And that Jeremy had willed the great house of Downs Edge to her, covenanted to the first child of the holder, male or female.

Clarissa laid aside toying with her cameo pendant. She met Lucy's eyes with her cool green ones. "Of course, you know, strict primogeniture follows the legitimate heirs," she said. "Any others could be contested."

Lucy had no reply. She held her face composed as best she could, but hadn't a clear idea of what expression might be on her face. At least her breeding was better than Clarissa's in one point of decorum. Lady Netherwood's fingers were straying back toward her pendant, to worry at it again.

"I'm sure you wouldn't want a protracted struggle in Court," Clarissa essayed.

Court had been the ruination of many families once possessed of wealth, often upon the point of an inheritance.

Lucy faintly nodded toward Clarissa.

"All sorts of nasty business might come out," Clarissa said.

Lucy's lips bent in a faint smile. She looked from Clarissa to Edmund and back meaningfully. "True enough, Lady Netherwood," Lucy said.

Clarissa dropped her pendant back against her breast and sat back in her chair.

"Leave off, Clarissa," Edmund spat. "Lucy, running an estate and honoring one's obligations as a member of the gentry..." Edmund paused to take a breath, as if he couldn't believe how he'd classed Lucy. "Well, they can't be put on like a mantle. You'll need an advisor who knows that world, and you can hardly bring in someone you don't know, with no connection to the family. You wouldn't know if he was helping you honestly manage the place or running it in a way partial to himself."

A glimmer of an idea occurred to Lucy. She was acquainted with someone who could recommend an advisor or a course of action for her as mistress of Downs Edge. Edmund himself wanted to carry on, of course, as master of the estate in fact, if not in name. But though Lucy did not wish him ill, he was not entitled to take back her portion in right.

"A very good point, Lord Netherwood," Lucy said.

"You should not make any swift changes, Lucy," Edmund said. "It could take months merely to untangle the finances."

Not the best recommendation for yourself as master-in-fact of Downs Edge, Lucy thought. "I am sure I will have much to learn," Lucy said.

Edmund and Clarissa nattered at Lucy while the solicitor was absent, spinning vague plans in her direction that would leave nothing much changed except that Lucy's position would change from housekeeper to a fondly indulged relation, like Lady Catherine in her last years. Lucy replied as little as she could, keeping herself to herself.

"And of course to best secure the house in the family," Clarissa continued. "you will have to be considering your daughter Anne's marriage plans."

The name 'Anne' clanged on Lucy's ears. Her daughter had never been anything but 'Annie' to the whole Netherwood household, from Clarissa's daughter Sabrina down to the footmen and gardeners and up to Lord Jeremy and Lady Catherine.

"It is not too early to consider whether Stephen or Alan might be a suitable match," Clarissa said.

Sabrina's twin brother Stephen had never paid much attention to Annie, for which Lucy was grateful. He didn't seem particularly cruel or eager to lord it around over the help, which put him a point ahead of his father Edmund. Clarissa's nephew Alan -- well, Lucy didn't really know him one way or the other. All she could see was Clarissa casting her nets.

"I'm sure," Lucy said. "But it is too early to mention to Annie before we have the rest of things settled." Lucy prayed that Clarissa would not go ahead and sound out the young people concerned. She would not wish any more of Clarissa's meddlings into Annie's life than her daughter had already by virtue of being Sabrina's companion.

Augustus Henshawe bustled back in. They pored over papers, exhibits, and procedures as long as they could endure it on this dim, rainy afternoon. Edmund and Clarissa departed for a social call at tea, while Lucy gathered up Annie and made her way though the waning drizzle to their lodgings.

"Mum, are you really Lady Downs?" Annie asked. "Does that make me a lady too?"

"It's all to be worked out," Lucy said. "Perhaps for the best, but sometimes these things end in tears all round. But I will do my best for your sake. I have a call to pay tomorrow."

"To whom?" Annie said. Her companionship with Sabrina showed in her diction. Sometimes Annie was taken for Sabrina's sister, which amused Sabrina, but not her mother.

"To someone who can help me figure out what's best," Lucy told Annie.

The next morning, Lucy rose early and dressed herself for visiting.

As she stood before the mirror, she thought of Lord Jeremy again. All these years, he had hid like a coward. It made her want to cry. Why now? Why turn everyone's life upside down? Couldn't he have simply settled some money on herself and Annie for loyal service?

Lucy blotted up the beginning of a sniffle.

It was probably Lady Catherine. Jeremy didn't want her to know. He didn't want to break her heart or turn her away from him. Lucy shook her head. She thought she might ask Annie later whether she and Sabrina had learned any literary words about being a fool for love.

Lucy settled her clothes just so and went to pay a call on the person who she hoped would help her and Annie get out from under the thumb of Edmund and Clarissa. It was a situation ill befitting a lady, even a jumped-up bastard such as herself.