Domestic fiction; Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Hertfordshire (England) -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
Mr. Grey had of late learned one thing which had before been dark to
him,--had seen one phase of this complicated farrago of dishonesty which
had not before been visible to him. Augustus suspected his father of
some farther treachery. That he should be angry at having been debarred
from his birthright so long,--debarred from the knowledge of his
birthright,--was, Mr. Grey thought, natural. A great wrong had been, at
least, intended; and that such a man should resent it was to have been
expected. But of late Mr. Grey had discovered that it was not in that
way that the son's mind worked. It was not anger but suspicion that he
showed; and he used his father's former treatment of him as a
justification for the condemnation implied in his thoughts. There is no
knowing what an old man may do who has already acted as he had done. It
was thus that he expressed himself both by his words and deeds, and did
so openly in his father's presence, Mr. Grey had not seen them together,
but knew from the letters of both of them that such was the case. Old
Mr. Scarborough scorned his son's suspicions, and disregarded altogether
any words that might be said as to his own past conduct. He was willing,
or half willing, that Mountjoy's debts should be, not paid, but settled.
But he was willing to do nothing toward such a step except in his own
way. While the breath was in his body the property was his, and he chose
to be treated as its only master. If Augustus desired to do anything by
"post-obits," let him ruin himself after his own fashion. "It is not
very likely that Augustus can raise money by post obits, circumstanced
as the property is," he had written to Mr. Grey, with a conveyed sneer
and chuckle as to the success of his own villany. It was as though he
had declared that the money-lenders had been too well instructed as to
what tricks Mr. Scarborough could play with his property to risk a
second venture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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