Domestic fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Wales -- Fiction
From what had passed with Mrs Griffith, it was clear to Cousin Henry
that he must go out of the house and be seen about the place. The
woman had been right in saying that his seclusion was mysterious.
It was peculiarly imperative upon him to avoid all appearance of
mystery. He ought to have been aware of this before. He ought to
have thought of it, and not to have required to be reminded by a
rebuke from the housekeeper. He could now only amend the fault for
the future, and endeavour to live down the mystery which had been
created. Almost as soon as Mrs Griffith had left him, he prepared to
move. But then he bethought himself that he must not seem to have
obeyed, quite at the moment, the injunctions of his own servant;
so he re-seated himself, resolved to postpone for a day or two his
intention of calling upon one of the tenants. He re-seated himself,
but turned his back to the shelf, lest the aspect of his countenance
should be watched through the window.
On the following morning he was relieved from his immediate
difficulty by the arrival of a letter from Mr Apjohn. It was
necessary that a declaration as to the will should be made before
a certain functionary at Carmarthen, and as the papers necessary
for the occasion had been prepared in the lawyer's office, he was
summoned into Carmarthen for the purpose. Immediately after that he
would be put into full possession of the property. Mr Apjohn also
informed him that the deed had been prepared for charging the estate
with four thousand pounds on behalf of his Cousin Isabel. By this he
would bind himself to pay her two hundred a year for the next two
years, and at the end of that period to hand over to her the entire
sum. Here was an excuse provided for him to leave the house and
travel as far as Carmarthen. There were the horses and the carriage
with which his uncle had been accustomed to be taken about the
estate, and there was still the old coachman, who had been in the
service for the last twenty years. So he gave his orders, and
directed that the carriage should be ready soon after two, in order
that he might keep the appointment made by the lawyer at three. The
order was sent out to the stable through the butler, and as he gave
it he felt how unable he was to assume the natural tone of a master
to his servants.
"The carriage, sir!" said the butler, as though surprised. Then the
owner of Llanfeare found himself compelled to explain to his own man
that it was necessary that he should see the lawyer in Carmarthen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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