“I never heard that my Lady was given to law,” muttered she derisively. “True, she said that she had been sent to sleep, a thing which any one of these folios one might think would compass. But why did she come hither to read at all? There must have been something of interest to attract her. The books on this side do not seem to have been touched for ages; but here--yes, some one has been to these quite lately, for the dust has been disturbed, and here, if I mistake not, is the dainty print of my Lady's fingers. We are getting warm, as the children say at Hide-and-Seek. What have we here? A slip of paper for a marker, torn cross-wise from an envelope with _Lad_ upon it. It was surely imprudent of my Lady to use her own address for such a purpose. _Wills!_ Ah, she has been studying the art of making wills, I dare say. Considering Sir Richard is already so well off--and since I am not to be his wife--it is to be hoped she will leave her money to son Walter; and some, too, to poor dear Letty, for she is one who will never learn to help herself in this world. It is well for her that she has not to live by her wits. If she had been in my position, she would have been a governess. Yes, it's all about Wills this book. And why should not my Lady make a will, being of ripe age, and yet not old enough to sniff that smell of the charnel-house, which renders the operation so unpleasant a duty to the aged? I am afraid--unless, indeed, I could find the will itself--that I have but discovered a mare's nest after all. However, here are more book-markers; come, let us combine our information. _Succession!_ That's only the same story. _Illegitimacy!_ Great Heaven, but this is more than I had bargained for!”