Read Online The Bell Ringers by Henry Porter - Free Book Online Page A

Eyam had planned his funeral, but not what he was doing in Colombia. She thought for a moment. ‘You think it was cancer – something terminal?’
    He shrugged.
    â€˜Did he say why he was going away?’
    â€˜No, I didn’t know he’d left until I heard of his death. He was away about a month and what with Christmas, well . . .’
    â€˜Why would he go away when he was ill? Presumably he was being treated in England.’
    â€˜I’m afraid I can’t say because I don’t know.’
    â€˜And these documents; do you know what’s in them?’
    â€˜No. These are his private communication to you. The contents donot concern me.’ He smiled sympathetically. ‘I know this is going to take some time to sink in. It is after all a rather large legacy to come out of the blue. But the one thing I did want to bring to your attention is the house, which has been unoccupied for over three months. There will be things that require attention: we can talk about all of that when you come to see me. The lease on the flat in London is due to end in a few months’ time so you don’t have to think about that for the moment.’
    Her hand moved to the envelopes. ‘May I?’ she asked.
    â€˜Forgive me. All this is a little irregular, but please do.’
    She opened the will first and read that Hugh Arthur Russell and Annabel Spring, wife of Russell’s partner Paul Spring, were appointed as Executors and Trustees. She read on:
    (i) I bequeath to Kate Grace Koh Lockhart absolutely the property known as Dove Cottage, Dove Valley, Near High Castle, in the county of Shropshire, all the contents therein and my car (Bristol Series 4,1974 Chassis number: 18462 Registration Number N476 RXL) and also the property at 16 Seymour Row, London W1, currently let on a two-year lease to George Harold Keenan, together with its contents.
    (ii) I bequeath to Kate Grace Koh Lockhart absolutely the sum of £780,000 and the portfolio of shares and bonds held in my name at the time of my decease.
    (iii) I give to High Castle Arts Trust absolutely the sum of £12,000 and to High Castle Film Society the sum of £12,000 to be used in an annual lecture and film screening and to The Marches Bell Ringers Society the sum of £125,000.
    There were a few smaller bequests – Amnesty International and a charity called Tree Aid. Attached were a paper detailing the extent of his shareholding as of October 21st the previous year, and the address of his accountant in London.
    She let the will drop to the table and picked up the letter addressed to her in Eyam’s precise little hand.
    At the top was a quote from Immanuel Kant: ‘Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener andmore steadily we reflect on them – the starry heavens above and the moral laws within.’
    For the moment the evening is mine, Sister, but soon it will certainly be yours.
    If you are reading this, Hugh Russell must have found you and given you the keys to Dove Cottage, which will come to you after you receive the news of my demise. I am dead. How odd that sounds. Anyway, welcome to my home; welcome to your home. I do wish that we had made the occupation simultaneous, rather than consecutive, but leaving it to you is the nearest I can get to that now.
    How did we let this distance between us happen? What did we do not to deserve each other? It was, I am sure, all my fault and I hope I have managed to express this to you in person or on the phone before you read this.
    Anyway, that is all regrettably in the past and now I give you my life – less tax, as it were – and with all the problems and strangeness of the last year or so; but also all the hidden delights of Dove Cottage, which I believe you will come to love. Look closely, as I know you can, and you will discover much that is surprising here. All my earthly goods are now yours: my secrets too. Think of