I gave them rooms on the second floor. In houses of wealth, it is well known that servants’ quarters are on the first floor, temporary guests stay on the second and the owners of the house live above. The turrets are reserved for storage, of course. I knew however, that Adelind, Margarete, Cristyne and Elsebeth would be staying a very long time and I wanted them to be comfortable. There was enough room for it in any case.

I delegated my father’s care to Adelind and set about taking over his business affairs. Though we were deep in old money, there was always new money to be made. I was young, but as I read and learned and dealt with my father’s lawyers, I caught on quickly to the ways of finance. I managed to sell most of the family estates, keeping only the palazzo in Italy and I locked away a large portion of the family fortune in savings so that it would earn interest and never die. I left enough for us to live on for a long time and set the accounts so that only I could access them. Or so I had thought.