It struck the dignified gentleman
suddenly dumb.
"Well? Well?" Cried Alaric. "How much? Don't stop right in the
middle of an important thing like that. You make me as nervous as a
chicken."
Mr. Hawkes returned to the will and after looking at it a moment
without reading said:
"To his immediate relations Mr. Kingsnorth left, I regret to say--
NOTHING."
A momentary silence fell like a pall over the stricken Chichester
family.
Mrs. Chichester rose, indignation flashing from the eyes that a
moment since showed a healthy hope.
"Nothing?" she cried incredulously.
"Not a penny-piece to anyone?" ventured Alaric.
The faintest suspicion of a smile flitted across Ethel's face.
Hawkes looked keenly at them and answered:
"I deeply regret to say--nothing."
Mrs. Chichester turned to Ethel, who had begun to stroke "Pet"
again.
"His own flesh and blood!" cried the poor lady.
"What a shabby old beggar!" commented Alaric, indignantly.
"He was always the most selfish, the most--" began Mrs. Chichester,
when Mr. Hawkes, who bad been turning over the pages of the document
before him, gave an ejaculation of relief.
"Ah! Here we have it. This, Mrs. Chichester, is how Mr. Kingsnorth
expressed his attitude toward his relations in his last will and
testament.
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