England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
There was no doubt whatever that when, the day after Mr. Harman's
confession, the Homes came to Uncle Sandy and told him, not only all,
but also that at any moment he might receive a summons to visit Mr.
Harman, he felt a sense of exultation; also that his exultation was
caused, not by the fact that his niece would now get back her own, for
he had supplied her immediate need for money, but by the joyful sense
that at last, at last, he, Sandy, could speak out his full mind. He
could show this bad man, about whom every one was so strangely, so
absurdly silent, what _he_ thought of his conduct to his dear little
sister. He went away to Prince's Gate, when at last the summons came,
bristling over with a quite delightful sense of power. How well he would
speak! how cleverly he would insert the arrow of remorse into that cruel
heart! As he entered the house he was met by Miss Harman. She held out
her hand to him without a word, and led him to the door of her father's
study. Her eyes, however, as she looked at him for a moment, were
eloquent. Those eyes of hers had exercised a power over him in Somerset
House; they were full of pleading now. He went into Mr. Harman's
presence softened, a little confused, and with his many excellent, to
the point, and scathing remarks running riot in his brain.
Thus it came to pass that Sandy said no word of reproach to the
broken-down man who greeted him. Nay, far from reproaching, he felt
himself sharing in the universal pity. Where God's hand was smiting
hard, how could man dare to raise his puny arm?
The two trustees, meeting for the first time after all these years,
talked long over that neglected, that unfulfilled trust, and steps were
put in train to restore to Charlotte Home what had for so many years
been held back from her. This large sum, with all back interest, would
make the once poor Charlotte very rich indeed. There would still be,
after all was settled, something left for Charlotte Harman, but the
positions of the two were now virtually reversed.
"There is one thing which still puzzles me," said Mr. Harman before they
parted. "Leaving my terrible share in this matter alone, my brother and
I could never have carried out our scheme if you had not been supposed
to be dead. How is it you gave no sign of your existence for three and
twenty years? My brother even wrote me word from Australia that he had
himself stood on your grave."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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