the brothers, and hinted
at a matter of business which he would discuss at some future time,
when she should have recovered somewhat from the shock of her loss. My
mother was surprised, and thought it very strange, as she had heard no
word from her husband to lead her to suppose that he had made up the
quarrel with his brother. The matter, I say, puzzled her a good bit,
but did not cause her any actual uneasiness till Mr. Denny came one day
and told her privately of an extraordinary rumour he had heard in
Rockymouth, to the effect that Uncle Nicholas had told some one that my
father had made a will leaving him half the property, that being the
fair share which he ought to have had after my grandfather's death.
This rumour, coupled with what my uncle had already said to her, caused
my mother to begin to fear that something was wrong. She wanted to
write to Uncle Nicholas right away; but Mr. Denny advised her to say
nothing till she heard from him. In the meantime they made further
attempts to find the will which my father had signed in the lawyer's
office, Mr. Denny knowing the terms of this one, and hoping it would
bear a more recent date than any other which my father might have made.
You see, if a man makes more than one will it's the last that counts,
and the others are worth nothing."

I nodded to show that I understood this explanation.

"About a week or ten days after you left," went on Miles, "one
afternoon Uncle Nicholas called, and out came the whole affair. He
produced the will of which we had already heard the rumour, and said
that my father had executed it at the time that they had made up their
quarrel. The terms were exactly what Mr. Denny had already
hinted--that if my father died first, half the estate was to go to
Nicholas; in case, however, Nicholas did not survive his brother, the
whole property would come to my mother and myself. Having read the
paper, he once more described how my father had been prompted to take
this step out of a sense of justice; and then he added that, after all,
it would make very little difference to any of us, since he himself had
no children, and I should be his heir. He would only enjoy his share
during the rest of his life, which at most would not be many years.
From the first my mother was amazed and incensed at this disclosure.
Though she saw the signature at the foot of the document, and
recognized it as my father's handwriting, yet she could not but regard
th