“No, silly. Well . . . yes . . . but—this would have worked even if you hadn’t found the missing inheritance. We could have paid her the first year’s rent in advance and done the repairs with Crown money, and she’d have had enough money to furnish the private rooms and some left over for winter provisions.” Kat flopped over onto her stomach. “What do you think she’ll prefer, breeding horses or training Guardsmen?”

“Breeding horses,” Abi replied promptly. “I don’t think she’d care for having hordes of strangers all over her property. And Tobin would be a nonstop grumble mill.”

“He sounded like a grumpy old goat,” Kat agreed. Then she frowned. “I wonder if the only reason he stayed was because he hoped to find the inheritance himself?”

That had occurred to Abi as well, although she hadn’t voiced her suspicions. “That’s not why his wife stayed,” she said, slowly. “But he did seem eager to persuade Lady Sussena to leave the treasure where we found it instead of making an account with the Goldsmith’s Guild. I don’t know if that just means he hates change—which he does—or because he wanted a chance to steal some of it.”

“Well, if that was the main reason, we’ll soon be hearing from Wrenmarsh that the entire family abandoned milady,” Kat said, after a moment of thought. “And if he’s nothing but a cantankerous old goat, then he’ll certainly stick with her, expecting some reward out of all that service for next to nothing all these years.”

“That’s a perfectly reasonable expectation,” Abi agreed. Secretly she hoped that Tobin was just a chronic complainer who had served because of loyalty and feeling sorry for Lady Sussena. Lady Sussena would probably be heartbroken if he and his family ran off on her.

“Well, no point in trying to solve problems that haven’t even happened yet,” Kat said cheerfully. “Or that people really ought to be able to solve for themselves. I’ll make sure to suggest to the Seneschal if he likes my idea that the farm should be given over to breeding horses and mules for the Guard. It’s in the middle of a lot of other farms, after all, and I’m sure the other farmers would have some objections to a lot of people tramping around and fighting and making noise.”

“Not to mention having fruit filched from their trees,” Abi pointed out. “Guard Trainees are at a prime fruit-snatching age and probably would look on it as a clever adventure to outwit the farmers.”

“Havens, you’re right. Even the Trainees up here aren’t immune to that,” Kat groaned.

“Says the Princess who found out that the ornamental apple trees in the garden produce fruit that tastes like sour wood,” Abi teased.