“Well, he had a great scheme. The greater part of his property after
the large legacies--” The lawyer saw that Carmen looked pale, and he
hesitated a moment, and then said, in a cheery manner: “Oh, I
assure you, madam, that this will gave you a great fortune; all the
establishment, and a very great fortune. But the residue was in trust
for the building and endowment of an Industrial School on the East Side,
with a great library and a reading-room, all to be free. It was a great
scheme, and carefully worked out.”
“I am so glad to know this,” said Carmen. “Was there anything else?”
“Only some legacies.” And Mr. Sage went on, trying to recall details
that his attentive listener already knew. There were legacies to some of
his relatives in New Hampshire, and there was a fund, quite a handsome
fund, for the poor of the city, called the “Margaret Fund.” And there
was something also for a relative of the late Mrs. Henderson.
Carmen again expressed her desire to carry out her husband's wishes in
everything, and Mr. Sage was much impressed by her sweet manner. When
she had found out all that he knew or remembered of the new will, and
arose to go, Mr. Sage said he would accompany her to the office. And
Carmen gratefully accepted his escort, saying that she had wished to ask
him to go with her, but that she feared to take up so much of his time.
At the office the first will was found, but no other. The lawyer glanced
through it, and then handed it to Mrs. Henderson, with the remark, “It
leaves you, madam, pretty much everything of which he died possessed.”
Carmen put it aside. She did not care to read it now. She would go home
and search for the other one.
“If no other is found,” said Mr. Sage, in bidding her good-morning,
“this one ought to be proved tomorrow. I may tell you that you and Mr.
Hollowell are named as executors.”
On her way home Carmen stopped at a telegraph station, and sent a
message to Mavick, in Washington, to take an afternoon train and come to
New York.
When Carmen reached home she was in a serious but perfectly clear frame
of mind. The revelation in the last will of Henderson's change of mind
towards her was mortifying to a certain extent. It was true that his
fortune was much increased since the first will was made, and that it
justified his benevolent scheme. But he might have consulted her about
it. If she had argued the matter with her conscience, she would have
told her conscience that she would carry out this new plan in her own
way and time. She was master of the situation, and saw before her a
future of almost unlimited opportunity and splendor, except for one
little obstacle. That obstacle was Mr. Mavick. She believed that she
understood him thoroughly, but she could not take the next step until
she had seen him. It was true that no one except herself positively knew
that a second will now existed, but she did not know how much he might
choose to remember.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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