Prev | Current Page 205 | Next

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan, 1814-1873

"Uncle Silas A Tale of Bartram-Haugh"


Along with these lay a large envelope, inscribed with the words 'Directions
to be complied with immediately on my death.' One of which was, 'Let the
event be _forthwith_ published in the _county_ and principal _London_
papers.' This step had been already taken. We found no record of Dr.
Bryerly's address.
We made search everywhere, except in the cabinet, which I would on no
account permit to be opened except, according to his direction, by Dr.
Bryerly's hand. But nowhere was a will, or any document resembling one, to
be found. I had now, therefore, no doubt that his will was placed in the
cabinet.
In the search among my dear father's papers we found two sheafs of letters,
neatly tied up and labelled--these were from my uncle Silas.
My cousin Monica looked down upon these papers with a strange smile; was it
satire--was it that indescribable smile with which a mystery which covers a
long reach of years is sometimes approached?
These were odd letters. If here and there occurred passages that were
querulous and even abject, there were also long passages of manly and
altogether noble sentiment, and the strangest rodomontade and maunderings
about religion.


Pages:
193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217