Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-05-04

fashion, which / had better explain to
you. Originally it was a very small one
AN old-fashioned house and a few hun
bred acres Of very unproductive land, en-
tailed, not on the eldest son end next
male heir, but ON the eldest son or next
Of kin to him, male or female. BY this
regulation Thruxton Abbey, and the
grounds originally appertaining to it,
would have passed to your father, and
viii pass to you at your grandfather's
death, whatever happens"
mot to me; to my-to Cadet Rou-
sellel" Bebe whispered. 1t was a very
obstinate whisper, but low one; and
her guardian went on as if he had not
heard it.
"But as things are, that Inheritance
would be only white elephant to you;
for it so happens that in the last century
your great-grandfather, who married an
heiress, not only bought a great deal of
additional and very valuable land all
round the Abbey, but added to the house
itself, and laid out large sums of money
upon it, so as to make it quite q palatial
residence, the mere keeping of which cost
more than the original property. Why
therefore he didn't include the additional
land in the entail, don't know. As a
matter of fact, he did leave the whole of
it to his eldest son, your grandfather,
who, shortly after entering into posses
sion of it, executed a will leaving it to mis-
eldest son, and to the next-of- kin, male
or female, of the latter, after the fashion
of the original will.
"That will was not and never has been
altered by any subsequent events. The
breach with your father was made by the
young man himself He had left his
home of his own accord; and while he
lived he was free to come back to it when
he pleased. Nothing, as l now know,
would have rejoiced his father more than
that he should have done so; and al
though, failing him or any heir of his
body, his nephew, Mr.. Russell GARNER
here, was next of kin, and was acl1nowl-
edged as such and as presumptive heir to
the whole estate, by his great-urcle, the
old gentleman never took the trouble to
make any separate provision for him in
the event of the deceased son having
married unknown to his family and left
behind him children whose claim would
have come before the interloper.
"As for your father, he was not man
who cared anything about either wealth
or property for himself. After his escape
| from the shipwreck of the Glasgow City
he altered his name to that of Richards
or Richard, as the French called it--and
under cover of this incognito amused him
self by travelling from one little known
country to another, now shooting ante
| lope in Syria, and now catching butter
| flies In the Piraeus, as sport or natural
history held the upper hand with him for
the moment. Lastly, driven homeward
by the steady progress of the malady
which proved fatal to him, he came to a
stop in the quiet old town of Caen, and
wrote for me to go over and see him.
81 was then, and had been for some
two years, a solicitor practicing on my
own account; but in the previous years,
whenMr. Richard GARNER knew me, had
not attained that eminence, and was sim
ply senior clerk in the firm of Messrs.
Brownson and James"
"Our family lawyers!" GARNER inter-
rupted. Mr. Langley glanced towards him
with scowl and nodded
Then it was through you of course
that my uncle heard"
"All that 1 could tell him respecting
his family, and home affairs. | was no
longer in the formers service, nor was /
acting for them; and if old Brownson
was more garrulous than he should have
been with his ex-clerk, that was his look
out. Besides Mr.. Richard GARNER was
the heir; he had a right to know any
thing that concerned his property, and he
had been kind and friendly to me in the
days when he was the gay young squire,
and / a hard worked, poorly paid depend
ent 1t was from me that he learned the
facts that have just told you, and fur
Their, that the lady, through whose agen-
cy his happiness had been blighted, was
reigning in the Grosvenor Square house,
and living at the rate of five thousand
pounds or six thousand pounds a year;
while her son had just been transferred
from Elton to the university, where he
was lording it on an allowance befitting
the acknowledged heir to the property,
TO BE CoNTINuED.