"Not necessarily; not by entail, only by tradition and custom. You can leave your estate to whom you please; though, of course, you need not think of leaving it to any one; for you may hold it yourself for fifty years to come. You are not forty, and you may live to be ninety. But when you do leave it, it would be better to leave it to Wynnette." "And--Odalite?" "You lose sight of one matter, dear Abel--the future possibilities of our eldest daughter." "I--do not quite understand. Anglesea, I know, has no very great expectations from any quarter, and so if he should marry Odalite they may need Mondreer; and Anglesea has promised to take the family name that it may go down with the estate." "I think I can show you that the estate of Mondreer can be secured to the Forces by the marriage of Leonidas Force with our second daughter, much better than it ever could be by the marriage of any one, whether Leonidas Force, Angus Anglesea, or another, with our eldest daughter." "I wish you would tell me, then, dear, for I am in a maze." "Have you forgotten that the Earldom of Enderby, failing male heirs, descends to the female line? 'falls to the distaff,' as old writers call it?" "No, I have not forgotten it, for I never knew it," replied honest Abel, lifting his eyebrows. "Know it now, then! I have never spoken of this matter to you before; because, indeed, I have seldom thought of it at all, and nothing has occurred until now to recall it to my mind; but it is a fact of too serious importance to be overlooked at this crisis. Reflect now, that there is only one frail life between me and the heirship of my father's earldom--the life of my epileptic half-brother Francis, who, inheriting the malady of his beautiful young mother who perished in her youth, has declared that he will never marry to perpetuate such a misfortune." "We will not, dear, speculate on the possible early death of your brother," said Abel Force, gravely and tenderly, but without the slightest shade of rebuke in his tones. "No, we will not speculate; but we cannot avoid thinking of the possible, and, indeed, the very probable future of our eldest daughter, and guide ourselves accordingly," replied the lady. "In what way?" gently inquired her husband.