The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-06-23
THE LAWYERS SECRET.
By B. L. Farjeon, Author of "Bread,
Cheese and Kisses"
CHAPTER I,

ssIt is the most provoking clause that
was ever invented to annul the advan-
tages OF testament" said the lady.
g 1t is condition which must be full
filed, or you lose the fortune" replied
the gentleman.
Whereupon the gentleman began to
drum 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. l
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 a 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 gray-those large,
gray eyes, fringed with long black lash
.es, which are more dangerous than all
other ewes ever invented for the perdi-
ton of honest men. They looked like
deep pools of shining water, bordered
by dark and shadOwy rushes; they
looked like stray stars in an inky sky;
but they were so beautiful that, like the
Signal lamp which announces the advent
gage train, they seemed to say ''Dan-
gerr' Her nose was aquiline; her
mouth small, clearly cut and very de-
termined in expression; her complexion
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.
The gentleman was ten or fifteen
wears her senior. He, too, was hand
some, eminently handsome; but there
was a languid 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 listlessness, that
extinguished the light of his eyes and
.blotted out the smile upon his lips.
That any one SO gifted by nature as
he seemed gifted, could be as weary of
life as he appeared was, in itself, so
much a mystery that one learned to look
lat him as 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 up from under the
heavy eyelids that shrouded them. The
mouth was spiritual in expression, the
lips thin; but the face was wanting in
rone quality, lacking which, it lacked the
power which is the highest form of man.
ly beauty; and that quality was deter
amination.
He sat drumming with his white,
taper fingers upon the table, and look
inc down, with gloomy shade upon
his handsome forehead.
The scene was lawyers Office in
sGrav's Inn. There was a third person
present. an elderly lady, rather 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 younger
lady and the gentleman.
The gentleman was solicitor, Horace
Margrave. the guardian of the young
lady. and executor OF her uncle will.
Her name was Eliinor Arden; she was
sole heiress and residuary legatee to her
uncle, John Arden, of the park and
village of Arden, in Northamptonshire;
land She had this very day come of age:
Mr.. Margrave had been the trusted and
valued friend of her father, dead ten
wears before, and of her uncle, only
lately dead; and Ellinor Arden had
been brought up to think that if there
were truth, honesty or friendship upon
earth. those three attributes were cen
tered in the person of Horace MargraTe,
solicitor, of Gray's Inn.
He is to-day endeavoring to explain
and to reconcile her to the conditions OF
her uncle's viii, which are rather Pc
sculiar. :.
I'm the first place, my dear Ellinor,
he saws, still drumming on the table,
still looking at his desk and not at her,
..you had no particular right to expect
to be your uncle, John Arden, of Ar
denis, heiress." :.
Il was his nearest relation" she
-said.