The Travels of Anadrasata Nearabhigan: Day 15 - Another Snippet from back at home
So, I thought it was time to give everyone an update on the situation back in Umbrial.
This runs to 1,887 words. I hope that you enjoy it.
Index Page.
Castor Fhailaign had just finished showing his wife, Annapeela Fhailaign, some financial figures. She looked appalled. "All this time I thought Anadrasata had incredibly bad taste. I didn't realise that she was dressing to a budget this small." She shook her head, "No, I didn't think. We all knew that my mother is concerned about household costs, but I never thought that she would be so cheeseparing with Anadrasata. I mean I had a generous dress allowance and pin money before I married. I know that Sura still has the same. I was assuming.... " She closed her eyes for a moment then added, "Mother doesn't intend for my sister to get married, does she?"
Castor looked at the figures in front of them, and thought briefly of the other, larger figures they were part of. "I suspect not. I also suspect that your mother thinks she can not only keep your sister here, but that she can keep her hands on your sister's annual allowance without it ever going into your sister's hands."
Anna looked at him sharply, "Allowance?"
"Yes, didn't you know about that?" Her husband looked at her quizzically. "She has an annual allowance from that infamous trust fund. They send it to your brother, as her guardian, and he forwards it on to your mother as your sister lives in her care."
Anna fixed him with a steely glare. "How much?"
Her husband calmly returned her gaze. "Half the value of your mother's jointure."
"Oh, that's infamous!" If she had been standing, Anna would have stamped her foot. "And all this time Mother's been going on about how she's been stretching her jointure to provide my sister with a roof over her head, and how she isn't grateful enough!"
"Always when your sister is out of the room, I notice," replied Castor drily. "The digs when she's in the room are about her housekeeping skills. Remember the butter incident?"
Anna closed her eyes in mock pain. "I don't think any of us will ever forget it. Anadrasata certainly made her point - she doesn't buy lesser grades of butter because none of us want to eat it. Particularly Mother." Her eyes shot open again, "Actually, have you noticed? She never talks about stretching her jointure and all of that when Tallaig's there. I had thought it was because women, no, ladies of her age don't talk about money around men, but she has no qualms about it around you."
"She wants me to think her a generous soul," replied Castor drily. "If we can get Anadrasata's allowance into her own hands, what do you think she'll do?"
"After spending fourteen days back under my mother's roof? I think she'll move out and set up her own household in a nice little house where none of us can live with her." Anna looked ashamed. "She'll develop her own social circle, and if she's got a thousand a year, then I'm sure that before long she'll become betrothed to someone who has little money and similar or better connections than ours - the younger son of a landed family or even a noble one who is prepared to change his name."
"That offshoot business is always going to be a complication," agreed Castor. "She's supposed to found a family line. If her husband comes of noble blood, he could petition to pass the prefix to their children."
"It's probably more than a thousand a year," added Anna thoughtfully. "You described it as an allowance, and it takes a substantial sum to produce it from cent per cents, but would that much be enough to have made Tallaig so...peevish about it for nearly ten years?"
Meanwhile, the Misses Vhaivhaigairg were entertaining gentlemen callers. This was not a commonplace event in the two elderly sisters' lives, and they were in a pleasant tizz about it. It was a business hours call, not a social one, and they were probably old enough to be the gentlemen's grandmothers, but it had been many years since good looking, eligible men had been a feature of their lives. Besides, this visit looked to be a fruitful source of discussion in their social gatherings for the next week. They knew Mr Tallaig Nearabhaign's mother, of course, and had seen him about since he was a child, but Mr Saidaikhus Lhadraist of the Imperial Adjutant's Office was a new face and name.
"Of course, Father never encouraged us to talk about money," said Miss Lhaidhnai, the elder sister by half an hour.
"He made us listen to him talk about it often enough," chimed in her sister, Miss Dharai.
"True," agreed her sister, "and then he told us that we could trust his man of business implicitly."
"My father told me the same thing," replied Tallaig Nearabhaign calmly, while holding a teacup in one hand and the saucer in the other. "However, it appears the senior partners passed away a few years ago, there was a change of leadership and new staff...." He let the sentence trail off meaningfully. "I have very recently discovered discrepancies in the financial transfers they were actioning for me, and I immediately took my concerns to the Imperial Adjutant's office, and they assigned Mr Lhadraist to the matter."
Saidaikhus Lhadraist took over in a polished voice, redolent of an expensive education, "In going through their accounts, a process that confirmed Mr Nearabhaign's concerns, we found a number of accounts that show a distressingly familiar pattern. One of them, I'm sorry to say ladies, is yours."
"But our income been coming through on time, every quarter," said Miss Lhaidhnai, carefully putting down her teacup and saucer on the low table in front of her.
"But not as much income as it was originally," replied Mr Lhadraist calmly.
"Well, no," said Miss Dharai. "The payment rate on our principle dropped a number of years ago. Five would be about right, I think." She looked inquiringly at the young man opposite her.
"Ma'am, the payable rate on an existing deposit of cent per cents, consols, or government bonds has not dropped in over fifty years." Mr Lhadraist's voice was calm, soothing, and implacable. "The rate on new deposits was last adjusted fifteen years ago. You have been lied to, and my office wishes to prosecute the thieves and recover your funds for you."
"Would that be possible?" It was Miss Lhaidhnai who asked. "I mean, we have been managing nicely with what we've been receiving but an infusion of extra funds would always be useful."
"There are real estate and other assets that have been seized or frozen," Mr Lhadraist assured her. "We have every confidence that a substantial amount will be recovered."
"Oh!" The two sisters looked at each other and Miss Dharai said, "Perhaps if we get enough back, we might take a trip to Satdrel - to see the cathedral and the graveyard again."
"Of course we might," said Miss Lhaidhnai before turning back to Mr Lhadraist again. "Is there anything you need us to do, Mr Lhadraist?"
"I was hoping that I might call on you tomorrow morning at this time and get your signed authority to check your personal records and the records of your account with the Imperial Exchequer against the records of your man of business. I will bring Mr Saidhaign, the accountant who will be working on your particular matter, with me to make him known to you. You may, of course, wish to have your solicitor present to review the authority on your behalf before you sign it." Mr Lhadraist smiled warmly at the two elderly ladies.
"That would be very pleasant," allowed Miss Dharai. She paused then added, "Our family has always used Khaifflaign and Sons as our legal representatives. I hope they are not implicated in this matter in any way?"
Mr Lhadraist shook his head. "So far we have found no suggestion that anyone outside the man of business' office was involved in any wrongdoing, Miss Vhaivhaigairg. Do the two of you have any other questions for us today?"
The two sisters looked at each other mischievously.
Miss Lhaidhnai replied, "I was wondering where your family is from, Mr Lhadraist. Your name is not a local one."
Mr Lhadraist smiled back at her. He was wondering if the two ladies would manage to introduce this topic. "My family comes from Lhadrial, It's a small place half a day's road travel north of Satdrel. My mother was a dh'Mhavain before her marriage."
"I have a question too," said Miss Dharai. "Mr Nearabhaign, did you really send your sister to visit your great-aunt in Tlemutsiko without any chaperone or escort?" She leaned forward slightly, bright eyed and interested.
Some quarter of an hour later, the two men were on the street outside the Vhaivhaigairg residence, business completed and thoroughly milked of their potential for social gossip by their hostesses. "All the victims are going to be like that, aren't they?" said Mr Lhadraist sadly. "Older and outright elderly ladies who think that they shouldn't talk about their money. "
"I'm afraid so," replied Mr Nearabhaign. "Retired servants would complain to their former employers - their pensions have less margin for frivolities in them and they know that they were granted a set amount. If they wouldn't go to the employer themselves, they'd go back to the butler, or the housekeeper, or the stable master if their pension came up short."
"I know," agreed Mr Lhadraist. "The good will of your staff is important and shorting agreed pensions is a very bad idea if you want to keep it." He paused and asked, "Did you really send your sister to Tlemutsiko on her own? Not even a lady's maid?"
"My mother assured me that it is perfectly proper, given her age. She'll be twenty-five in a few months." replied Mr Nearabhaign. "She's travelling first class and I booked her into respectable inns for when she has to wait between ships."
"I presume she's going west across the Southern Ice then. Pricey but needs must," replied Mr Lhadraist. "I can understand that her maid might not want to go to Tlemutsiko - foreign country, different language, left the Empire in rebellion, and all that."
"My sister doesn't have a personal maid," Mr Nearabhaign said slowly, "and we sent her the long way around, because of the prices. My mother did assure me...and I am guided by her on the welfare of my sisters."
"Sounds to me as if your mother might not want your sister to marry," replied Mr Lhadraist. "Now, where is the next address on our list? I'm still finding my way around this town."
Inside the house, Miss Lhaidhnai and Miss Dharai were consulting their reference books. "Ah," said Miss Dharai. "The Lhadraists have been at Lhadrial Manor for five hundred and sixty-four years. The village was named after them, and the current head of the family is Khairtais Lhadraist. He seems to be our Mr Lhadraist's uncle."
Miss Lhaidhnai replied, "I thought the name dh'Mhavain was familiar. It seems that the current Count dh'Mhavain is Mr Lhadraist's great grandfather, his grandfather being Lord Lhucaisis dh'Mhavain." She smiled at her sister and asked, "Tell me, dear, who of our acquaintance needs to know about a new, well-connected bachelor in town?