Chapter 474: The Muddy Stain in Polly's Pants
"Hello, is Mrs. Maria Michela Quirino living here?" The American lawyer first asked in English, then repeated in French.
"Oh, that's me," 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 name is James Denton. I'm your great-aunt's lawyer."
"My great-aunt?"
The lawyer nodded. "Yes, Mrs. Giovanna Massimo. Do you remember her?"
Mrs. Polly shook her head. "I'm sorry, I really don't remember. Oh, please come 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 documents 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 immediately nodded, but then something came 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 mentioned 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 American relatives. After France occupied Corsica, many of her relatives indeed moved to America to seek a better life.
And the thought of $10,000 quickly helped her construct a whole set of memories.
"Oh, yes, I seem to remember 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 came 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 aimed at splitting up France, and there were people everywhere who wanted him dead. He had to stay vigilant at all times.
"I'm sorry, sir. Mrs. Massimo's assets are all in America. As you know, there's currently no banking relationship between Britain and America, and the nearest exchange bank is in the Netherlands."
After verifying Mrs. Polly's identity, Lawyer Denton handed over the will and other documents to her and arranged a time to handle the inheritance, then took his leave.
Polly looked at the documents suspiciously and asked his wife, "Do you really remember this aunt?"
"Yes, dear, I remember her taking me 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 America 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 memories 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 documents. "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 excitement, telling him that the inheritance was real. She had received a $10,000 check from America 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 America in the future.
Polly was delighted as well. Ever since he got involved in the Restoration movement, all his income had come 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 meeting 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, Parliament member Girolamo casually mentioned 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 mentioned to my wife that she had a distant relative in America 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 some real estate. Truly a windfall."
Of course, Mrs. Polly had never run into his wife, and she certainly hadn't mentioned 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 government for a long time. 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. Chalmers' donation was just destroyed in the fire, and suddenly Mrs. Polly receives a large inheritance?"
"What are you implying?" Giuseppe immediately 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 meeting, the three of them immediately 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 meant to be distributed among people like them, so no one should be trying to keep it!
"So what's your plan?"
"Send someone to investigate in the Netherlands and America!"
(End of Chapter)
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