Chapter 4

There was a telegram sitting on Laura's desk back in the dorm room and it looked so official that her first impulse was not to open it. After some encouragement from Clarissa and the other two girls, she finally opened it carefully with a letter opener as if it was wired with explosive and she was afraid of a letter bomb. The message was short and concise.

From: The Law Offices of Goldberg, Higgins and Adamson

To: Laura Hightower, granddaughter of Lady Elizabeth Hightower

Mr. Lark of our office will be at your school on Friday next to discuss your grandmother's estate. He will make arrangement with your school to have you free for a conference for duration of approximately ninety minutes during school hours. We are your family's attorneys and as such also represent you unless you desire additional counsel. Thank you for your cooperation.

Harold Goldberg, Senior Partner.

Laura had received the news of her grandmother's passing almost six months ago and this was the first time she was contacted about being named in her beloved Nana's will. She knew her grandmother was well off financially but she had assumed she had given all of her fortune to the many charities that she donated to on a regular basis. Her father had a falling out and seldom visited or spoke of his mother but Laura had visited her on a regular basis every summer and enjoyed roaming about the spacious estate in the country. It was there that she had learned how to ride a horse and to swim like a fish in the luxurious Olympic pool surrounded by the well-tended gardens.

Clarissa told her she should get her own lawyer but she thought it would not be good form since the firm was one that her family had used for years and she knew both her parents were well satisfied with their performance. She decided to just go with the flow and see what would be presented in the conference and if she had any doubts then it would be time to seek outside counsel.

Gina told her with her typical suspicious attitude that it would be better to have a least one witness with her to substantiate the conversation if it were ever necessary. Laura could tell the girl was well-versed in the politics of meetings between opposing sides in an issue and wondered if her underworld family followed up their meetings with more energetic responses. She had to smile at the duplicity of the Italian girl knowing she seldom said what she actually thought as if the truth had to be guarded at all costs from discovery.

Adriana was noncommittal and made no concealment of the fact she was bored with such talk and wanted to try on the new undies that they had recently purchased at the shopping center in the village. She was fond of modeling the frilly lace knickers for the other girls and invited them to see how they felt to spanking hands. The poor girl was obsessed with being spanked now after her stressful sessions with Gina right in front of the others. Laura had to admit she was quite turned on by the sight of Adriana over Gina's knees and loved when the Italian girl got around to pulling down the submissive girl's knickers and exposing her reddened cheeks for their viewing. The make-believe shy girl would hide her supposed humiliated face in her hands and sobbed realistically for their enjoyment.

The conference with the lawyer was built around the serving of tea which was a normal way of things at the school when entertaining visitors from abroad. There were not one but two lawyers at the meeting. The primary was old Mister Goldberg with his shocking white hair and corpulent face that bespoke years of imbibing rich red wines. He was the spokesperson and the quiet one bringing up the rear was a young lawyer in training from Manchester who seemed overwhelmed with an expense paid tour of the Swiss Alps. His name was Arthur Drillbum and he seemed quite capable even with keeping his mouth shut and just listening to his superior.

"My dear Miss Hightower, I have already approached your father and he poses no opposition to my dealing with you directly. It is apparent that both he and your grandmother were a bit estranged in recent years and he has not interests in any of her legal matters. To come directly to the point, you have been named in her last will and testament and stand to come into a sizable fortune at age twenty-one which was her stipulation. I cannot say the exact amount but her entire estate was in the hundreds of millions. Pounds, that is, to be quite clear. You are a twenty percent beneficiary which is a large amount in itself. The remaining eighty percent is split up between four different charitable organizations with various stipulations for the distribution. I will also add that one of the institutions is not overly enthusiastic about meeting the prescribed stipulations and as such, that twenty percent is expected to be split between the four remaining beneficiaries including you. Additionally, the estate in the Midlands is in trust for you to either sell or make your place of residence if you so desire. That estate comes with extensive land holdings and income-producing rental properties, both residential and commercial in the surrounding farms and nearby town. The income alone is more than enough to meet any demands of living expenses for the remainder of your life without any need to touch your principal."

The young lawyer seemed both bored and bit sleepy and Laura wondered if he had been up late the night before. He didn't look like the drinking or female-chasing kind, so she assumed it was strictly work-related or of a similar business necessity.

She smiled and thanked them both for their personal touch in telling her in person and asked if they had accommodations for the evening since the last train had already departed for the city. The younger lawyer answered immediately with some degree of firmness that impressed her beyond belief.

"We are at the Ski Lodge since the inn in town has been booked completely. We were fortunate to have separate rooms and I am all the way almost in the attic with a splendid view of the mountain."

Laura half-expected Arthur to invite her up to see the view from his window but he just smiled enigmatically and she crossed her legs making sure he had a nice peek at her French undies. It was a terribly flirtatious move but she was frustrated with her female needs as Hans had been caught up in a heavy work load and had been sent to the city for supplies by the Lodge manager who relied on him for accurate and trustworthy purchasing arrangements. Hans had confided in her that he was in line to replace the manager in the very near future and he seemed enthusiastic about the prospect even though he knew the job robbed him of his creative instincts that were always uppermost in his mind. She was of the opinion that he was quite comfortable in the job because he had the opportunity to diddle countless mature women looking for local talent to satisfy them on their short vacations. She had no jealousy about that reality because he was attending to her needs quite adequately when he had the time to scratch her itch.