The Pennyfeathers, Part Three: Fortune

“Oh Crumbs!”

In the midst of her conversation with Ewart, Doreen had completely forgotten about the bloody mess she had made, as well as the sandwich she had to fix. The blood hadn’t totally dried into the marble yet, so only a minute of scrubbing was needed. Now all she needed to do was deliver the sandwich. Unfortunately for her though some blood got on the sandwich, and a full reconstruction was needed.

            Doreen rushed down the hallway. Master Bruce had requested this sandwich almost twenty minutes prior. This time she didn’t have the same grace and poise as she weaved through the corridors and her echoing footsteps could be heard before she even rounded the corner. They were so loud in her own ears that Doreen jumped in shock when rounding the last corner and finding herself eye to eye with Bruce.

            “And where have you been?”

Doreen bowed and held the plate outstretched on her hand.

“Gravest of apologies master.”

Bruce took the plate from her hand and threw it on the ground. Crumbs and porcelain shattered and spread across the floor. Doreen let out a mild yelp when it smashed.

“CRUSTS! You know how I feel about crusts.”

“Oh Crumbs. It was my mistake master it will never happen again.”

She bowed her head even lower. She had reached a new level of shame from disappointing her master. While staying bowed, she reached out her hands and began collecting up some of the larger shards of plate

“Don’t even bother. You’re fired.”

A jolt went through Doreen’s heart. She stood up straight and covered her mouth with her hand. Her distraught eyes did nothing to waver Bruce’s stern red face. She remembered the number one rule which had always been passed down through the generations and that was to never argue with an Archer. Whatever they say, you must obey. And so she did. Sullenly she walked down the grand hallway toward her servant’s quarters for the last time.

            Bruce remained in the hallway for a few minutes, resting against the wall and cooling off. As he did so his father, Ewart, rounded the corner.

“Good gracious what happened here? A broken plate? I assume Doreen is on her way to sweep it up?”

He look around as if to expect to see her heading toward him with a broom but there was no such luck. Bruce shook his head.

“Nah, I fired her.”

“YOU WHAT!?”

Ewart raised his fist as if to hit Bruce. He took a moment to think about, then he did.

“Oww! Why? Look Dad, I’m not stupid. I’ve seen our accounts and we really don’t have any money anymore. There was no way we could afford to keep her. And besides it won’t be too bad I can look after myself, I’m not that incompetent.”

Ewart wasn’t listening. He was thinking. It took a few moments before it struck him.

“The fortune!”

            Ewart turned on her heels and sprinted back down the hallway from whence he came. Curious, Bruce pursued him. The two ran out toward the foyer and up the main stairs. They took a left and went straight down the hallway into the Grand Bedroom. The bedroom had belonged to Ewart’s grandfather, and since his death it hadn’t been used since. But it was the location of the family safe.

            Bruce wasn’t very fit and since he wasn’t running on the same adrenaline as his father he lagged behind. By the time he arrived, Ewart already had the safe open and he was routing through documents. He was swift in his work, but at the same time was extra careful since some of the papers were up to a hundred years old. He quickly found what he was looking for. It didn’t look all that old but it did look just as important as the others.

            “Dad talk to me, what is going on?”

Ewart just ignored him and focused completely on the document. Then he hit the floor. The document fell on the ground next to him as he curled up into a ball. Feeling incredibly scared, Bruce walked over and picked it the document.

This is the last will and testament of Mister Anthony William Archer.
In these times of economic uncertainty there is but one thing that I wish upon my family is safety and security for their future. So, as was agreed upon between myself and Mister Leslie Pennyfeather, all of my wealth and worldly possessions shall go into his name so as to protect the credit of the Archer family. This fortune shall now belong to the Pennyfeathers by name, but shall always be accessable to my family unless in the unfortunate case of the end of the Pennyfeather line. But by law it must be stated that all wealth will be retained by the Pennyfeathers in the case of a breach or termination of contract between our families.

            Bruce didn’t read on. He couldn’t. The reason why he didn’t see any fortune in the Archer account was because it was in a different account. And now he had just fired Doreen which meant that all of that money was hers and hers alone. The realisation of what he had just done dawned upon Bruce.

“Oh Crumbs.”