Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1901-02-14
CHAPTER w.

CHAPTER Nv.
There was CONSERVATION at the Man
or and the Uplarids; but when Frank
Dynevor's will was read, his brother
was amazed to find there was no men
ton whatever of his promise to secure
Harold's future. 1t had been made i'm
mediately after the birth of little Lii
liam, and it left everything in trust to
his wife for her daughter, and IL the
child died before reaching the age Of
81 her mother inherited everything,
with power to beQueath it to whom
she pleased.
No wonder the Charles Dynevors
were aggrieved. They would not have
grudged the estate to Lillian; but that
1t should revert to her mother, that a
girl who had never seen the old house
three years before should have power,
if her child died, to leave it away from
the family who had owned it for
centuries-it was terrible!
Perhaps their sense Of injustice made
the Charles Dynevors keep aloof from
the young widow, and so they did not
realize how quickly her acquaintance
with Eustace Linden ripened into in
timacy: and it came on them like a
thunderbolt when. year and a day
after her husbands death, Nina mar
ried the specious adventurer and went
abroad with him.
Very little news of her reached
Easthill. That she had second child
another daughter-and that her
health failed so rapidly she was obliged
to live always in the south of France,
was all the Dynevors heard in the first
few years. Then there came formal
letter from Eustace Lindon, aequaint-
ing them with his stepdaughter's
death; and, barely six months later,
another to announce that his wife had
passed away.
'She will have left him all the ready
money; but she can't be SO base as to
bequeath him the Manor" Charles
Dynevor said to his wife.
Il don't know. She was perfectly
infatuated with him, and suppose she
would think of her child" replied Mrs
Dynevor.
But there was no mention of her
child in the will. Mr.. Dynevor paid
half guinea for copy of 1t. 1t had
been made Immediately after the death
of her firstborn, and it simply be-
queathed "all property of which l may
die possessed, real or personal, Of
every description whatever, to my dear
husband. Eustace Lindon."
1t had been drawn up by an English
lawyer. and witnessed by the doctor
and nurse who attended little Lillian
in her last illness. Everything was
perfectly in form. Mr.. Proctor, the
leading solicitor of Marion, who had
been at school with Harold Dynevor,
and remained his close friend, said
that to upset it would be quite i'm
possible.
So Eustace Lindon enjoyed his thou
sands and the Dynevors grew poorer
every year. The father lived till his
only son was old enough to take up
the burden he had borne so bravely.
His dying words charged Harold to
be good to his mother and Kitty, and
never, IL he could help it, accept any
favor at the hands of Eustace Lindon
II can't explain it to you, my boy"
said the dying man, solemnly, but
have thought a great deal about the
past since my illness began. would
not say word to your mother, lest
| she should brood over 1t; but can't
help feeling Linden did not play
straight. Your Aunt Nina was little
more than a child when he married
her; but she was singularly frank
and true. Knowing as she did that
| Dynevor Manor had been in our fam
lily for centuries. can't believe she
would have left it away from the old
name willingly"
do you mean you think the will was
a forgery" asked Harold.
mo; believe 1t was obtained from
| her by undue influence. When she
was very i'll he must have worked on
her fears in some way or other. l
can't explain what l think. Harold;
but seem to know Nina Linden never
did us such wrong willingly"
II could understand it better IL she
had left anything to her child" said
Harold. THE injustice to us would
have been the same. but it would have
been more natural"
Mr.. Dynevor shook his head.
ITS a mystery we shan't fathom
here, my boy. Only. with the instinct
God sends sometimes to the dying,
seem to feel that Linden is to blame.
If he comes to live at the Manor. avoid
him by every means in your power"
And that was the story of the past.
1t was not strange that. remembering
his fathers last words, it was torture
to Harold Dynevor to think that the
mortgage on his mothers home was
held by Eustace Linden.
Kitty and the tea tray came in to-
gether. There was capable woman
servant at the Uplands. but she had
her hands pretty full; and both Mrs.
Dynevor and her daughter were thor
oughly domesticated, sweet, home
keeping women both of them, not
learned in 'ologies and science, per-
haps. but we'll gifted to make those
about them happy.
| Harold felt quite refreshed after his