.
I don't suppose she cared for the old man any more than I did,--or
than she cared for the other old man who married her. People are
such intense hypocrites. There's my uncle John, pulling a long face
because he has come into this house, and he will pull it as long as
the body lies up there; and yet for the last twenty years there's
nothing on earth he has so much hated as going to see his father.
When are they going to bury him?"

"On Saturday, the day after to-morrow."

"Why couldn't they do it to-morrow, so that we could get away before
Sunday?"

"He only died on Monday, George," said Kate, solemnly.

"Psha! Who has got the will?"

"Mr Gogram. He was here yesterday, and told me to tell you and uncle
John that he would have it with him when he came back from the
funeral."

"What has my uncle John to do with it?" said George, sharply. "I
shall go over to Penrith this afternoon and make Gogram give it up to
me."

"I don't think he'll do that, George."

"What right has he to keep it? What right has he to it at all? How do
I know that he has really got the old man's last will? Where did my
grandfather keep his papers?"

"In that old secretary, as he used to call it; the one that stands in
the dining-room. It is sealed up."

"Who sealed it?"

"Mr Gogram did,--Mr Gogram and I together."

"What the deuce made you meddle with it?"

"I merely assisted him. But I believe he was quite right. I think it
is usual in such cases."

"Balderdash! You are thinking of some old trumpery of former days.
Till I know to the contrary, everything here belongs to me as
heir-at-law, and I do not mean to allow of any interference till I
know for certain that my rights have been taken from me. And I won't
accept a death-bed will. What a man chooses to write when his fingers
will hardly hold the pen, goes for nothing."

"You can't suppose that I wish to interfere with your rights?"

"I hope not."

"Oh, George!"

"Well; I say, I hope not. But I know there are those who would. Do
you think my uncle John would not interfere with me if he could?
By ----! if he does, he shall find that he does it to his cost. I'll
lead him such a life through the courts, for the next two or three
years, that he'll wish that he had remained in Chancery Lane, and
had never left it."

A message was now brought up by the nurse, saying that Mrs Greenow
and Mr Vavasor were going into the room where the old Squire was
lying, "Would Miss Kate and