"You would sacrifice a valuable development."
"It was never mine to secure on those terms."
Mr. Bell gathered the papers. "There is another matter, Your Grace. The proposed agreement refers to a preliminary payment from your personal investment account, authorized through your agent."
Julian frowned. "What payment?"
The solicitor indicated an attached receipt. Julian read it slowly: two thousand pounds had been paid as a non-refundable reservation fee for adjoining development land, subject to the precise terms of the investment agreement. He remembered approving the expenditure weeks earlier when his agent described Grant's proposal as a promising opportunity. He had not understood that its commercial value depended upon Eleanor's road.
"That money is lost if I withdraw?" he asked.
"On the wording before me, it appears so, though I would examine the executed agreement before treating the matter as final."
Julian placed the receipt on the desk. "Then examine it. If the fee is properly forfeited, I shall bear the loss."
Margaret stared at him. "Two thousand pounds!"
"A consequence of my own decision, Mother, not Eleanor's."
The following morning, before the appointed hour, Julian met Mr. Bell and Grant in the solicitor's office. The original agreements were examined, the deposit was accounted for, and Grant received written notice that the proposed workshop sale would not proceed. Mr. Bell arranged the return of the five thousand pounds from the estate account, subject to the necessary banking formalities. Grant reserved his claim for documented expenses under Margaret's undertaking, while Julian accepted that the reservation fee from his personal investment was forfeited under its agreed terms. He signed the withdrawal without argument.
"You have made an expensive choice, Your Grace," Grant observed.
Julian set down the pen. "I made the expensive choice when I committed money before establishing what I had any right to purchase."
By afternoon, he was back at the workshop. Eleanor stood at a workbench, examining a newly repaired book. She looked up when he entered.
"I have brought you something," he said.
Her expression closed slightly. Julian noticed and stopped several feet away.
"Not money. A copy of the notice sent to Grant. The sale has been withdrawn. Your property remains yours, and no permission concerning the road has been granted."
Eleanor took the paper and read it carefully. "And the deposit?"
"Its return has been arranged from the estate account. Other claims will be examined separately. I have also lost my own reservation fee."
Her eyes rose. "You need not have told me that."
"I thought you deserved to know the consequences."
She folded the notice. "Thank you for correcting what you could."