"Hello, is Mrs. Maria Michela Quirino living here?" The Arican lawyer first asked in English, then repeated in French.
"Oh, that's ," Mrs. Polly nodded. "But now it's Maria Michela Polly. I'm married. May I ask who you are?"
The man quickly handed over his business card. "My na is Jas Denton. I'm your great-aunt's lawyer."
"My great-aunt?"
The lawyer nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Giovanna Massimo. Do you rember her?"
Mrs. Polly shook her head. "I'm sorry, I really don't rember. Oh, please co in and have a seat."
Lawyer Denton entered the house and politely said, "First, I need to confirm that you are from the Quirino family in the town of Padano, Ajaccio, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Then you are the rightful heir to Mrs. Massimo's estate." The lawyer took out a stack of docunts from his bag. "She was the second son of your grandmother's sister's cousin's... "
The lawyer rattled off a long string of familial connections. "After she passed away, you are her only surviving relative. You will inherit over $10,000 from her estate."
Hearing this amount, Mrs. Polly suddenly felt a surge of happiness, as if the sun was shining brightly in her mind and birds were singing sweetly. She could almost see her great-aunt Giovanna's kind and smiling face.
$10,000—equivalent to 50,000 livres! It was enough to buy a decent-sized estate in Corsica!
She imdiately nodded, but then sothing ca to mind, and her expression turned sorrowful. "When did my great-aunt pass away? Oh, God, she was such a wonderful person, how could this happen..."
"Mrs. Massimo passed away three months ago due to illness," Lawyer Denton replied. "She ntioned that many years ago, she learned from your letters that you were in London. Luckily, you didn't move."
Mrs. Polly tried hard to recall any correspondence with her Arican relatives. After France occupied Corsica, many of her relatives indeed moved to Arica to seek a better life.
And the thought of $10,000 quickly helped her construct a whole set of mories.
"Oh, yes, I seem to rember writing to my aunt."
"Then, you'll need to go to the Amsterdam bank to claim the inheritance as soon as possible. Of course, you could also go to Philadelphia. I'd be more than happy to assist you there."
Polly, who was upstairs directing the servants to clean up after the fire, heard the commotion and ca downstairs to the living room. After his wife told him about the inheritance, he frowned slightly. "You have to go to Amsterdam? Can't this be done in London?"
After all, he was involved in activities aid at splitting up France, and there were people everywhere who wanted him dead. He had to stay vigilant at all tis.
"I'm sorry, sir. Mrs. Massimo's assets are all in Arica. As you know, there's currently no banking relationship between Britain and Arica, and the nearest exchange bank is in the Netherlands."
After verifying Mrs. Polly's identity, Lawyer Denton handed over the will and other docunts to her and arranged a ti to handle the inheritance, then took his leave.
Polly looked at the docunts suspiciously and asked his wife, "Do you really rember this aunt?"
"Yes, dear, I rember her taking to town when I was little."
In reality, there was no such person as Mrs. Massimo.
Fouché's agents had discovered that Mrs. Polly had relatives in Arica and had fabricated this whole story.
No one would doubt an inheritance of real money, and Mrs. Polly quickly convinced herself, through self-suggestion, that her vague mories were indeed related to this "great-aunt," fully believing she had such a relative.
"So you're going to the Netherlands?" Polly asked, looking at the docunts. "This could be a scam."
The woman nodded. "I'll go with Mr. Petro; there won't be any trouble. If it turns out to be nothing, at least we'll have had a trip to the Netherlands. I've always wanted to see that place."
She knew that Polly would never leave Britain—leaving would give the French an opportunity to kill him. But she had never been involved in politics, so she was sure there wouldn't be any danger.
After much consideration, Polly finally agreed. After all, $10,000 was no small amount.
Less than two weeks after his wife left for the Netherlands with the butler, Polly received a letter from her.
The letter was full of excitent, telling him that the inheritance was real. She had received a $10,000 check from Arica and had already cashed it. Moreover, the inheritance wasn't just cash; there were also several properties and pieces of land, though the exact value was unknown. She might even have to go to Arica in the future.
Polly was delighted as well. Ever since he got involved in the Restoration movent, all his inco had co from donations, and life had not been very luxurious. Now, with his wife's inheritance, they could finally live more comfortably.
Not long after Mrs. Polly received her "great-aunt's" inheritance, a secret eting of the Corsican Restoration Organization was held at their hidden base in Ajaccio, Corsica.
The group quickly finalized the details of the planned uprising in Cargèse, which was to take place in a few months, and sent the plan to their leader, Polly.
During the lunch break, Parliant mber Girolamo casually ntioned how his wife had run into Mrs. Polly in Amsterdam.
"What was Mrs. Polly doing in the Netherlands?" Giuseppe asked as he sipped his coffee.
"It seems she was there to claim an inheritance," Girolamo replied. "She ntioned to my wife that she had a distant relative in Arica who left her a large sum of money."
Seeing that no one was paying much attention, he continued, "It could be tens of thousands of dollars, along with so real estate. Truly a windfall."
Of course, Mrs. Polly had never run into his wife, and she certainly hadn't ntioned anything. But the director of the Intelligence Bureau had personally instructed Girolamo, so he had to say this. As for the truth, no one would go all the way to London to ask Mrs. Polly if she had told Girolamo's wife about the inheritance.
Yes, Girolamo had been working for the French governnt for a long ti. But since his position within the organization wasn't very high, he hadn't been particularly useful, mostly providing peripheral intelligence.
By deliberately emphasizing "a large sum of money" and "a windfall," he finally made Bartorio, who was sitting nearby, frown. "This seems a bit too coincidental. Mr. Chalrs' donation was just destroyed in the fire, and suddenly Mrs. Polly receives a large inheritance?"
"What are you implying?" Giuseppe imdiately rebuked him. "Are you doubting Mr. Polly?"
"Oh no, I was just joking."
Bartorio quickly waved his hand but exchanged a glance with the two others who had accompanied him to London.
After the eting, the three of them imdiately went to Girolamo's house.
"Are you suggesting that the £25,000 wasn't really destroyed?"
"Yes, it's possible that only worthless paper was burned," Bartorio said, staring at the others. "I don't want to doubt Mr. Polly, but with such a large sum of money, who wouldn't be tempted?"
What he didn't say was that the money was originally ant to be distributed among people like them, so no one should be trying to keep it!
"So what's your plan?"
"Send soone to investigate in the Netherlands and Arica!"
(End of Chapter)
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