Caroline's Inheritance
Copyright© 2023 by Harry
Chapter 2
Caroline hardly had time to feel the full extent of her loss in the days that followed and it was not until the day after the funeral (a Friday), that she felt at her lowest and most desolate. She had just returned to her grandfather’s home - now hers - after a talk with her accountant - a Miss Fortescue.
Janet Fortescue was a pleasant youngish woman who had got to know a lot about the old man in the last ten years and formed a deep regard for him. As Caroline left to go back to her now empty home, Janet wished her a pleasant weekend and arranged to meet her again on Monday afternoon.
She was just settling down into her favorite easy chair, becoming all too aware of her loneliness and total inner desolation, when the phone rang. At the other end of the line was the voice of a very young woman, sensuous, lilting and with a curiously hypnotic quality.
“Hello Caroline. I’m Grace Barlow, one of your grandfather’s tenants, and now yours. I think I know how you must be feeling and I’d like to help.”
There was a whole world of warmth and comfort in that beautiful voice. Caroline felt at once that she must meet its owner and as soon as possible. Grace continued.
“I live on a farm in Derbyshire. Get the train to Derby, and then take a local train from there to Fordham Magna. There’ll be someone to meet you there. I do look forward to seeing you. We’ll have so much to talk about.”
The more that amazing voice continued, the more Caroline fell under its spell. She must meet this Grace Barlow, whoever she was. Strange that nobody had mentioned her grandfather having property in that part of the country. She would certainly mention this to Janet when she met her on Monday.
“Can I come and see you tonight?”
“Please do. I’m so very glad you’re coming, Caroline.”
She put a few things into an overnight bag and phoned for a cab to take her to Euston. Derby station was almost deserted when she arrived there and a two-carriage train was waiting in a side platform. She asked a porter if this train were going to Fordham Magna and he said that it was.
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