He had
evidently never credited that Mrs. Brownlow meant to resign the whole
property without giving away among her children the accumulation of
ready money in hand, and as he knew himself to be worth buying off,
he reckoned upon Janet's full share. He had taken Mrs. Brownlow's
own statements as polite refusals, and a lady's romance until he
found the uncle and nephew viewing the resignation of the whole as
common honesty, and that she was actually gone. They would not give
him her address, and prevented his coming in contact with the
housekeeper, so that no more molestation might be possible, and
meantime they offered him terms such as they thought she would
ratify.
All that Joseph Brownlow had left was entirely in her power, and the
amount was such that if she had died intestate, each of her six
children would have been entitled to about ?l600, exclusive of the
house in London. Janet had no right to claim anything now or at her
mother's death, but the uncle and nephew knew that Mrs. Brownlow
would not endure to leave her destitute, and they thought the
deportation to America worth a considerable sacrifice. Therefore
they proposed that on the actual bona fide departure, ?500 should be
paid down, the interest of the ?1100 should be secured to her, and
paid half-yearly through Mr.
Pages:
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688