She lived chiefly in the
present, and the chief events of her life had all come so suddenly
and unexpectedly upon her, that she was all the less inclined to
guess at the future, having always hitherto been taken by surprise.
So, when Jock observed in public—-"Mother, they say at Kencroft that
the old miser ought to leave you half his money. Do you think he
will?" it was with perfect truth that she answered, "I don't think at
all about it."
It was taken in the family as an intimation that she would not talk
about it, and while she supposed that the children drew no
conclusions, they thought the more.
Allen was gone to Eton, but Janet and Bobus had many discussions over
their chemical experiments, about possibilities and probabilities,
odd compounds of cleverness and ignorance.
"Mother must be heir-at-law, for her grandmother was eldest," said
Janet.
"A woman can't be heir-at-law," said Bobus.
"The Salique law doesn't come into England."
"Yes it does, for Sir John Gray got Graysnest only last year, instead
of the old man's daughter.
"Then how comes the Queen to be Queen?"
"Besides,"-—Bobus shifted his ground to another possibility-—"when
there's nobody but a lot of women, the thing goes into abeyance among
them."
"Who gets it, then?"
"Chancery, I suppose, or some of the lawyers.
Pages:
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245