The Second Son Read online

  “This will take place here?”

  “Yes, of course,” said the Duke.

  “Good, when next week?” asked Grenville.

  “Next Wednesday,” replied Mr Stevens, “if that is suitable to you, your Grace,” looking at Grenville’s father.

  Grenville’s father nodded and said, “Of course, old chap, perfect.”

  “Mr Stevens, before then I would like you to do me some detective work,” asked Grenville.

  “Of course, my Lord, if it is legal and above board,” replied Mr Stevens, looking hard at Grenville.

  Grenville smiled. “Don’t worry, Mr Stevens, I would not ask anything that would jeopardise your office,” replied Grenville.

  Mr Stevens bowed his head at Grenville in acknowledgement. Mr Stevens took a pen and legal pad from his briefcase. “What information do you require, My Lord?” asked Mr Stevens.

  “First I want to know the exact amount the estate owes, and any daily interest it is occurring whilst the debt is running. Can you find out the exact date the debt must be cleared by, and the legal document my father signed to transfer over the estate to my brother’s running; now he is deceased, could his will legally transfer the estate to someone else, or does it revert to my father. And finally, if any other debtors are chasing payment against the estate.”

  Mr Stevens wrote everything down that Grenville had requested. “I will have the information next Wednesday, when I visit to read your brother’s will,” replied Mr Stevens.

  “Mr Stevens, that might be too late, so please can I ask you ring this number,” he said, passing Mr Stevens the card Jonathan had included in his letter to Grenville. “This is Mr Jonathan Spencer, my lawyer and close friend, if you can pass on to him the information I have requested,” said Grenville.

  Mr Stevens said, “As soon as I have the information, I will pass it on.”

  “Anything else?” asked the Duke. Both Mr Stevens and Grenville shook their heads in unison. “Good, until next week then.”

  He held out his hand to Mr Stevens, who took the offered hand and shook it and said, “Until next Wednesday, your Grace.” Turning to Grenville, he said, “My Lord, a pleasure,” as he shook Grenville’s hand.

  After Mr Stevens left, Grenville said, “Father, I don’t know how you could let things get so bad.”

  His father looked tired and said, “Grenville, I trusted your brother to do his duty towards the family,” holding up his hands. “I know I was wrong for trusting him, but in my defence, he was my son and a Hampton.”

  “You know about mother’s inheritance,” said Grenville quietly.

  “Yes, my boy, I do,” replied his father. “She does not know I know, but your brother told me one night, after dinner. That was when we had an argument and the whole rotten truth came out. I was shocked by the extent of it all,” said his father.

  Grenville looked at his father and felt sorry for him; to have a son dishonour the family name as his brother had was one of the most heinous crimes in his father’s eyes. His father said softly, “You know the thing that hurt the most, Grenville?”

  “What, father?” asked Grenville.

  “That he sat and laughed when he told me like he was not bothered, that the family name and title meant absolutely nothing to him.”

  Grenville stood, held out his hand and said, “Father, I will restore the family honour and fortune.”

  “Your grandfather was right,” replied his father, as he shook Grenville’s hand.

  “Oh?” said Grenville.

  “He once told me that Stephan would be our ruin but you, Grenville, were a true Hampton and would honour the family.” After Grenville left his father’s study he went and stood in the main hall, looking up. Grenville stared at the impressive large shield with a yellow background and a large black eagle clutching a lightning bolt in the middle. Grenville remembered his grandfather’s words, “Officium antequam glorificetur”, “Duty before honour”. “Those words are what us Hamptons have lived by for twelve generations. If you are called upon to do your duty, young Grenville, then the family will expect you to do so.”

  Next Grenville went to find Preston. He found him in the kitchen reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of tea. “Preston my dear chap, need you to do something for me.”

  “Ask away, my Lord,” replied Preston.

  “I now know the full extent of my brother’s betrayal of the family.” Preston smiled as Grenville went on, “Mr Stevens said that my brother had liquidated certain family items and tried to asset-strip the hall.

  “Now, I know he could not have done this without you knowing about it,” said Grenville smiling.

  Preston gave a chuckle. “Oh, he tried to my Lord,” replied Preston, taking a folded piece of paper from his pocket and passing it to Grenville. “Here is the list of the exact items he removed from the hall.”

  “Preston, sometimes I could kiss you,” replied a laughing Grenville. Taking the list, Grenville went to find his mother and father. Finding them both in the reading room, Grenville showed them the piece of paper that Preston had given him; after they both studied the list, the Duchess said, “Three paintings and two statues.”

  “Got off lightly,” the Duke said. “One Gainsborough, one Constable and a Degas.”

  “He took three of the most expensive, did not know he was so up on art,” said the Duchess.

  “More his friend than him,” replied the Duke.

  “And the statues?” said Grenville.

  “One was a Constantini Brancusi, and a Henry Moore,” said the Duchess.

  “I will speak to Stevens to see if any have come up for auction yet,” said Grenville. “Don’t worry, I will try and get them back.”

  “I know you will, son,” said the Duke.

  “I need to take a trip to London; any chance I can use Newton and the car?” asked Grenville.

  “Of course, you can,” replied the Duke.

  Later that day Grenville sat in his room and formulated a plan. Grenville smiled as Tom always drummed it into him. “Always have plans,” he said out loud, smiling Grenville decided to first sort out the family’s problems, and then he would tackle the S&T Import part. first, he made three phone calls: one to Jonathan and one to Hugo, who both agreed to meet him tomorrow for lunch. The third was to Directly Enquires. He knew the money he had in the Hoddles would raise a few eyebrows and possible attract the wrong interest if he wandered into a bank and tried to deposit over two million pounds in different currencies. So, he decided to sell the diamonds Tom had acquired during his time in Belize. Once he had the number he rang Liebermann diamond exchange. He made an appointment for tomorrow morning as a seller, which Grenville was surprised was easier than he expected. Then again, he did not actually tell them the quantity he had to sell. Smiling, he was going to look forward to seeing their faces.

  Next morning after breakfast, Preston announced that Newton was waiting outside ready to depart. Grenville thanked Preston. “Hope all goes well for you today,” said the Duchess, smiling.

  “So, do I, mother,” replied Grenville, kissing her on the cheek.

  “Good luck,” said the Duke.

  Grenville smiled at his father, shook his hand and said, “Hopefully I shall return with good news.”

  Watching the Rolls disappear down the drive, the Duke turned to the Duchess and said, “Our boy has changed, so confident and focused.”

  “His time away was certainly well used, and educational,” replied a smiling Duchess.

  “Strange,” said the Duke.

  “Strange why, James?” asked the Duchess.

  “I believe Grenville actually can restore the family’s honour and estate.”

  The Duchess walked over to her husband and placed her arm through his. “Never in doubt, my love, he is a true Hampton, just as your father predicted.” The Duke smiled and patted his wife’s hand, feeling more confident and happier that he had done in many months, and for some strange reason felt less worry now his second
son was home.

  Grenville climbed into the Rolls Royce and said to Newton, “Hatton Gardens, London, old chap.”

  “Of course, my Lord.” As Newton put the car into gear and moved away, Grenville closed his eyes and tried to find any pitfalls with his plan.

  Once they arrived in Hatton Gardens, Grenville said, “Not sure how long I am going to be, Newton.”

  “Don’t worry my Lord, I have some shopping to do for some of the staff, so I can drop you off and return.”

  “Splendid. As it’s now ten, shall we say midday?” asked Grenville.

  “Plenty of time my Lord, will be back at midday to pick you up.”

  Grenville watched Newton merge back into the London traffic before turning to the door that said Liebermann Diamond Exchange. On entering, Grenville went to the reception desk and smiled at the pretty receptionist, and said, “The name is Hampton, I have an appointment.”

  After checking her computer screen, she said, “Yes sir, I have you here, please take a seat and someone will be with you shortly.”

  Grenville sat as instructed and picked up a copy of an outdated Tatler. Before he had flipped through five pages, a man appeared in front of him and said, “Mr Hampton.”

  Standing, Grenville smiled and said, “Absolutely,” shaking the offered hand.

  “I am James Yoshie, junior partner in Liebermann. Please can you follow me.”

  Grenville followed Mr Yoshie into a well-lit plush room. “Please take a seat, Mr Hampton,” said Mr Yoshie, indicating a chair opposite. “So, down to business,” said Mr Yoshie. “You have a diamond to sell, and you require an appraisal on it,” Mr Yoshie continued.

  “Not quite,” replied Grenville.

  Mr Yoshie looked confused. “Oh, sorry, I was told you had a diamond to sell,” said Mr Yoshie.

  “Not one, but many,” said Grenville, and he placed two pouches on the table and smiled.

  Mr Yoshie said, “May I?” pointing at the pouches.

  “Please, be my guest,” replied Grenville. Mr Yoshie opened each of the pouches’ drawstrings and opened out the top. His eyes nearly popped out when he saw the number of diamonds in each pouch.

  Mr Yoshie stood and said, “I need to speak to a senior partner. Please wait here, Mr Hampton.”

  Grenville said, “Of course old chap, no worries.”

  Mr Yoshie left the room. Grenville placed the pouches back in his pocket, placed his hands behind his head, smiled and waited. Within ten minutes Mr Yoshie returned and said, “Please, Mr Hampton, will you follow me?”

  Mr Yoshie took Grenville to the lift; Mr Yoshie stood to one side to allow Grenville to enter the lift first, and once inside Mr Yoshie pressed the eighth button for the top floor. As they ascended to the top floor, soft music was playing in the lift. The lift stopped on the eighth floor, and as the lift doors opened another man was waiting for them.

  “Mr Hampton,” said the man as Grenville stepped from the lift; Grenville shook the offered hand and smiled. “I am Mr Fisher, assistant to the senior partners, please follow me.” Mr Fisher led them down a long corridor to the bottom where a large set of oak doors were closed.

  Gently knocking on the doors, a voice from the interior said, “Enter.” Mr Fisher opened the large oak doors and entered, followed by Grenville and Mr Yoshie. There, sitting at the top of a table, were three old gentlemen all dressed in Jewish attire. Mr Fisher showed Grenville to the chair opposite, and Grenville sat down and smiled at the three men.

  The middle man spoke first in a European-accented English voice. “So, Mr Hampton, let me thank you for picking our establishment to check your merchandise first,” said the man. Grenville smiled and nodded as the man went on, “Please can we see what you have to offer?” This time Grenville did not place the pouches on the table but emptied the contents of both pouches onto the soft fabric that covered the table. First the pouch full of cut diamonds that made a neat pile, second the seven uncut diamonds; the smallest was bigger than a human knuckle.

  The three men did not show any emotion, but Mr Yoshie and Fisher both took an audible intake of breath. The middle man leant back and spoke to the man standing behind him, who quickly left.

  “Well, Mr Hampton,” said the middle man.

  “Grenville, please,” replied Grenville.

  “Grenville,” smiled the old man, “you have quite a stash here. May I ask where you acquired such a large collection?”

  “I can assure you that they are not stolen, if that’s what you think,” said Grenville.

  “Don’t worry, if we thought that, we would have had the police here by now,” said the old man to the right.

  “I have been abroad travelling in Central America and a friend and I acquired them. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, he is unable to be in the UK now,” said Grenville with a smile.

  “Indeed,” said the middle old man. Just then a light knock on the door where the middle old man said, “Enter.” In walked a small rounded old man with thick glasses, who came to the table and bowled deeply.

  “You asked for my assistance, Mr Liebermann,” he said in a light whisper.

  “Bernard what do you make of these seven stones, and can you give us a quick appraisal?” Pointing to the table, Bernard stared at the pile of cut diamonds, but was not interested; his eyes were drawn to the seven uncut diamonds. Taking a seat and producing a small magnifying glass, he picked up each diamond and examined them. After about ten minutes he said, “Central American, flawless, uncut, over 10 carats per diamond. Excellent quality as well,” he whispered and smiled.

  “Thank you, Bernard, for your appraisal,” said the old man on the right, smiling. Bernard stood and bowled and left the room.

  “Please, Grenville, if you would step outside for a moment while we discuss your merchandise and make a judgement?” asked the middle man.

  “Of course, my pleasure,” said Grenville, standing, and with a slight bow, left the room accompanied by Mr Yoshie. Grenville took a seat outside while he waited to be summoned back in.

  After twenty minutes Mr Fisher opened the door and said, “Mr Hampton, please,” indicating to the interior of the room. Grenville went and sat in the same chair. The middle man had a brown thin folder in front on him.

  “Obviously, we have done some checking, my Lord,” said the middle man, smiling. Grenville bowed his head in acknowledgement. “You have not been totally honest with us, Grenville,” said the man to the left.

  “I don’t understand,” said a worried Grenville.

  The man continued, “You are Grenville St Louis Hampton. Earl of Eastleigh and future Duke of Hampshire, your brother Stephan who recently died left your family estate in quite a mess. And you have recently returned from a time in Belize,” said the man, smiling. “We like to know who we are dealing with, my Lord,” said the man.

  Grenville opened his hands and said, “You are correct, I am who you say I am,” replied Grenville, “but I am trying to put back together my family and restore my family estate.”

  The man to the right spoke for the first time. “Family, we can understand that.”

  “So down to business,” said the man in the middle. “These we will take off your hands now,” he said. “The uncut, we would like to keep and appraise properly,” he said. Before Grenville could speak, he said, “Of course we will give you a holding payment, and once we have decided on a correct price give you the balance.” The man opened the folder in front of him and extracted a white banker’s draft, and, face down, slid it over to Grenville.

  Grenville took the banker’s draft and turned it over, and the figure even made him look twice. The figure on the banker’s draft was for twenty million.

  “Of course, the uncut diamonds should treble the figure once they have been correctly cut and polished,” said the man.

  Standing, the man in the middle held out his hand to Grenville. “Let’s hope we can be of use to each other in the future,” he said, smiling.

  “I think we ca
n do more business,” replied Grenville. The three men were smiling as Grenville left the room. Grenville stood outside Liebermann and took in a deep breath and closed his eyes; that went better than expected, he thought to himself. “Phase one complete, onto the next phase.” Just then Grenville heard the honk of the Rolls Royce as Newton came around the corner and stopped next to him.

  “East India Club, St James Square,” said Grenville as he got into the Rolls Royce.

  Newton said, “As you wish, my Lord,” and once Grenville was settled pulled away from the curb. As the Rolls Royce departed, the three men watched from the upper window of Liebermann. One said, “So what do we make of young Hampton? A lucrative business opportunity, I suspect.”

  The other two nodded in agreement. “If the rumours are true and he has more items to sell, we should do well,” said one of them.

  “But we need to be cautious, we all know who he is aligned with now,” said the third man, “and we all know how dangerous they can be, so let’s keep faith with young Hampton.”

  “Agreed,” they said in unison.

  Arriving at the East India Club, Grenville noticed Jonathan was already waiting. As the Rolls Royce pulled up, Jonathan opened the door and allowed Grenville to exit. “My dear fellow,” said Jonathan, as he embraced Grenville. Grenville returned the hug, and slapped Jonathan on the back.

  “Good to see you again, old bean,” said Grenville.

  “Let me look at you,” said Jonathan, holding Grenville at arm’s length. “You look well, Belize obviously agreed with you.”

  “It was amazing, Jonathan,” was all Grenville said in reply.

  Grenville turned to Newton and said, “Can you return and pick me up at four?”

  “Of course, my Lord,” replied Newton as he indicated to merge back into the traffic.

  “Before Hugo arrives, let me apologise about the letter,” said Jonathan, looking sheepish.

  “No need to old chap, I understand you were put in a no-win situation by my father,” smiled Grenville.