“You intend to visit that solicitor and claim it then?” Beth said. “I’m not saying it isn’t tempting. I’ve done some dreaming too the last day. I could use some new pots, for one thing, and a few new caps. But it seems dangerous to me. What if—” She jabbed her spoon into her porridge. “Five years you’ve been safe here. Five years no one knew about your marriage, or about—the rest of it. Now, this could be opening up a door we’d closed and bolted.” She gave Minerva a sharp glance.

Minerva considered Beth her best friend, so she took that glance seriously. Beth had worked for half wages as a servant in Algernon’s home, in order to be allowed to have her young son with her. She had become a mother to the young bride Algernon brought home too. Long before Minerva had found a way to escape that house, these two had become her true family.

“Beth, rejecting the legacy will not change the truth that my past is now tied to my new name. Both names were used in that will.”

“Stop trying to spoil the fun, Mum. Minerva is going to be rich.” Jeremy held up his arms and shook his hands while he laughed. “Rich! RICH!”

“You better tell him the rest, Minerva, before he calls me a crazy old woman for worrying so much.”

“The rest? What are you talking about?”

“Jeremy,” Minerva said. “Yesterday when I told you about Radnor’s visit, I left out a few small details.”

“How small?”

“Not small at all,” Beth said. “Big. Huge.”

“Why not let me decide which it is.” Jeremy had now turned serious.

“The circumstances of the duke’s death were peculiar enough to encourage inquiries.”

“You said he fell off a roof. An accident.”

“That is the most likely way it happened.”

“You mean maybe it wasn’t an accident?” His face tightened. “You should have told me right off. This explains why Radnor snuck in and why he was in your study. He was looking for something.”

“I can’t be certain, but my inner sense says so. If there was a question about how the duke died, it would be natural to wonder about me. I am unknown to the family and I am benefiting from his death. Under those circumstances, it should be expected that Mr. Radnor would be curious. If I were in his place, I would be too.”

“How reasonable you make it sound,” Beth said. “It’s like you’re making excuses for the rogue.”