Mr. Sleigh threw himself back in his chair, and sneered, with the end of
his pencil between his teeth. I hope his disappointment was altogether for
his client. Mr. Danvers fancied, he afterwards said, that he had probably
expected legacies which might have involved litigation, or, at all events,
law costs, and perhaps a stewardship; but this was very barren; and Mr.
Danvers also remarked, that the man was a very low practitioner, and
wondered how my uncle Silas could have commissioned such a person to
represent him.
So far the will contained nothing of which my most partial friend could
have complained. The codicil, too, devised only legacies to servants, and
a sum of 1,000_l_., with a few kind words, to Monica, Lady Knollys, and
a further sum of 3,000_l_. to Dr. Bryerly, stating that the legatee had
prevailed upon him to erase from the draft of his will a bequest to him to
that amount, but that, in consideration of all the trouble devolving
upon him as trustee, he made that bequest by his codicil; and with these
arrangements the permanent disposition of his property was completed.
But that direction to which he and Doctor Bryerly had darkly alluded, was
now to come, and certainly it was a strange one.
Pages:
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252