The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-06-17
THE LAWYERS SECRET
BY B. L. Farjeon, Author of BREAD
Cheese and Kisses"
CHAPTER ].
IN A LAWYERS OFFICE.

"It is the most provoking clause that
was ever invented to annul the advan-
tages of testament" said the lady.
1t is condition which must be full
filled, or you lose the fortune" replied
the gentleman.
Whereupon the gentleman began to
drum a martial air with the slender tips
of his white fingers upon the morocco
covered Office table, while the lady beat
time with the point of her narrow foot.
For the gentleman was out of temper,
and the lady was out of temper. also. |
am sorry to have to say it of her, for she
was very young and very handsome,
and though the angry light in her dark
gray eyes had certain viXenish beauty,
it was a species of beauty rather alarm
ing to man of nervous Temperament
She was very handsome. Her hair
was of the darkest brown, and clustered
about her head in rich, waving masses,
that fell into eXtemporary curls under
her elegant Partisan bonnet. Her eyes,
as have said, Were those large,
gray eyes, fringed with long black lash
es, which are more dangerous than all
other eyes ever invented for the perdi-
ton of honest men. They looked like
deep pools of shining water, bordered
by dark aud shadowy rrtshes;i they
looked like stray stars in an inky sky;
but they were so beautiful that, like the
signal lamp which announces'the advent
of an express upon the heels of lug
gage train, they seemed ito0say tDan-
ger! Her nose was aquAine; her
mouth small, clearly cut and very de-
terminedihe&pression, her eoinplexion
brunette, and rather pale. For the rest,
she was tall, her head set with a
naughty grace upon her sloping Shout
ders, her hands and feet small, and del
icately shaped. W. ''
The gentlemant was, ten or fifteen
years her senior. SHe, too, was hand
some, eminently handsome;. but there
was a langliid Indifference about his
manner, which communicated itself
even to his face, and seemed to over
shadow the very beauty of that face with
dark veil of weary, Gstlessness, that
eXtingllisheI the light of his eyes and
blotted out the smile upon his lips.
That any one 50 gifted by nature as
he seemed gifted, could be as weary OF
life rs he appeared was, in itself, so
much a mystery that one learned TO look
at him as a man under whose. quiet out
ward bearing lay some 'deep and stormy
secret, unrevealable to common eyes.
He was dark and pale, with massive
ly cut features, thoughtful brown eyes,
which rarely looked upfrom under the
heavy eyelids that shrouded them. The
mouth was spiritual in expression, the
lips thin; but the face was wanting in
one quality, lacking which, it lacked the
power WHICH is the highest form Of man
ly beautySand that quality Twas deter
mination. ,..y .,.N.ky
He sat drumming with his white,
taper fingers upon the table, and look
ing down, with a gloomy shade upon
his handsome foreht al.
The scene WAS atawyeris. ,ot)ice,in
Grav's Inn. There was a third PERSON
present, an elderly lady, rather a faded
beauty in appearance, and very much
dressed. She took no part in the con-
versation, but sat in an easy chair by
the blazing fire, turning over the crisp
sheets of the Times newspaper, which,
every time she moved them, emitted a
sharp, cracking sound, unpleasant to the
nervous temperaments' OF the youngef
lady and the gentleman.
Tbs gentleman was solicitor, Horace
Margrave, the guardian of the young
lady, and executor of her uncle's will.
Her name was Ellinor Arden; she was
sole heiress and residuary legatee TO her
uncle, John Arden, of the park and
village of Arden, in Northamptonshire
and she had this very day come of age.
Mr.. Margrave had been the trusted and
valued friend of her father. dead ten
years before and of her uncle, only