led with important-looking papers: "In his will--" he
repeated--

Mrs. Chichester stopped crying:

"Eh? A will?"

"What?" said Alaric, beaming; "did the dear old gentleman leave a will?"

Even Ethel stopped playing with "Pet" and listened languidly to the
conversation.

Mr. Hawkes, realising he had their complete interest, went on
importantly: "As Mr. Kingsnorth's legal adviser up to the time of his
untimely death I have come here to make you acquainted with some of its
contents."

He spread a formidable-looking document wide-open on the table,
adjusted his pince-nez and prepared to read. "Dear old Nat!" said
Alaric reflectively. "Do you remember, mater, we met him at Victoria
Station once when I was little more than a baby? Yet I can see him now
as plainly as if it were yesterday. A portly, sandy-haired old buck,
with three jolly chins."

"He was white toward the end, and very, very thin," said Mr. Hawkes
softly.

"Was he?" from Alaric. "Fancy that. It just shows, mater, doesn't it?"
He bent eagerly over the table as Hawkes traced some figures with a
pencil on one of the pages of the will.

"How much did he leave?" And Alaric's voice rose to a pitch of
well-defined interest.

"His estate is valued, approximately, at some two hundred thousand
pounds," replied the lawyer.

Alaric gave a long, low whistle, and smiled a broad, comprehensive
smile.

Ethel for the first time showed a gleam of genuine interest.

Mrs. Chichester began to cry again. "Perhaps it was my fault I didn't
see him oftener," she said.

Alaric, unable to curb his curiosity, burst out with: "How did the old
boy split it up?"

"To his immediate relations he left" Mr. Hawkes looked up from the will
and found three pairs of eyes fixed on him. He stopped. It may be that
constant association with the law courts destroys faith in human
nature--but whatever the cause, it seemed to Mr. Hawkes in each of
those eyes was reflected the one dominant feeling--GREED. The
expression in the family's combined eyes was astonishing in its
directness, its barefacedness. 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 l