Domestic fiction; Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Hertfordshire (England) -- Fiction; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
"Utterly hopeless. Your plan of providing him with a wife would be very
good if it were feasible. I should be very glad to see him settled. But
if he will marry no one but Florence Mountjoy he must remain unmarried.
Augustus has had his hand in that business, and don't let us dabble in
it." Then the squire gave the lawyer full instructions as to the will
which was to be made. Mr. Grey and Mr. Bullfist were to be named as
trustees, with instructions to sell everything which it would be in the
squire's legal power to bequeath. The books, the gems, the furniture,
both at Tretton and in London, the plate, the stock, the farm-produce,
the pictures on the walls, and the wine in the cellars, were all named.
He endeavored to persuade Mr. Grey to consent to a cutting of the
timber, so that the value of it might be taken out of the pocket of the
younger brother and put into that of the elder. But to this Mr. Grey
would not assent. "There would be an air of persecution about it," he
said, "and it mustn't be done." But to the general stripping of Tretton
for the benefit of Mountjoy he gave a cordial agreement.
"I am not quite sure that I have done with Augustus as yet," said the
squire. "I had made up my mind not to be put out by trifles; not to be
vexed at a little. My treatment of my children has been such that,
though I have ever intended to do them good, I must have seemed to each
at different periods to have injured him. I have not, therefore,
expected much from them. But I have received less than nothing from
Augustus. It is possible that he may hear from me again." To this Mr.
Grey said nothing, but he had taken his instructions about the drawing
of the will.
Harry came down by the train in time for dinner. On the journey down he
had been perplexed in his mind, thinking of various things. He did not
quite understand why Mr. Scarborough had sent for him. His former
intimacy had been with Augustus, and though there had been some
cordiality of friendship shown by the old man to the son's companion, it
had amounted to no more than might be expected from one who was notably
good-natured. A great injury had been done to Harry, and he supposed
that his visit must have some reference to that injury. He had been told
in so many words that, come when he might, he would not find Augustus at
Tretton. From this and from other signs he almost saw that there existed
a quarrel between the squire and his son. Therefore he felt that
something was to be said as to the state of his affairs at Buston.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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