‘Well, you will be allowed to keep any of the money you made prior to your marriage, and your share of the profits that have been made since then, and of course the two ships that were already yours before you met your wife. He has also agreed to you keeping the smallest of the warehouses on the harbour that I believe you purchased with the money he gave you, but as of today this house and most of the business now belong to Louisa’s father. As regards what you can do about it . . .’ He shook his head. ‘We could try contesting the will but I doubt there is a court in the land who would go against your wife’s wishes. She was ill, admittedly, but she was of sound mind and so I fear there is very little you can do but accept the situation.’

‘So where am I supposed to go?’ Barnaby felt as if he was wading through sludge as the full implications of what the solicitor was telling him struck home.

‘As I said, you do still have money so I would suggest that you could afford to buy another, humbler property for you and your young daughter to live in. It wouldn’t be as salubrious as Greenacres, of course, but at least you won’t have to be homeless. And Mr Hamilton-Tate has given you four weeks to vacate the premises. The contents of the house will then be auctioned and I have been instructed to put the house up for sale.’

‘He never said a word about this while I was in Pickering,’ Barnaby said bitterly. ‘And what about the shipyard? It will fold without someone to keep an eye on things and run it.’

Again the solicitor avoided his eye as he shuffled his papers about. ‘Your father-in-law has instructed a manager to move in and take control of the business on his behalf forthwith. And he will be changing the name, but he did work out how much you are owed during his stay here.’

Now Barnaby understood why Robert Hamilton-Tate had taken such a great interest in the ledgers while he had been there.

‘This is what he has agreed to you keeping.’ Mr Dickenson handed Barnaby a sheet of paper with a sizeable amount written down on it, although he knew that once he had purchased a home suitable for his daughter to live in it would eat in to it considerably. ‘And are there any provisions made for Charlotte?’

When the solicitor shook his head, Barnaby felt a pang of guilt. Could it be that his in-laws had suspected that the child had no blood ties to them or did they simply not want anything to do with her? Whatever the reason he would be solely responsible for her from now on.

‘And what about the staff here?’ he asked, his mind reeling.