his forehead with his handkerchief, and drew an arm-chair forward. 'Mr.
Burnett, as you know, made a will some years ago, in favour of his cousin
and adopted daughter, Miss Emily Watson. In that will he left his entire
fortune to her, Ashwood Park and all his invested money. No other person
was mentioned in that will, except Miss Watson. It was I who drew up this
will. I remember discussing its provisions with Mr. Burnett, and advising
him to leave something, even if it were only a few hundred pounds, to his
nephew, Hubert Price. But Mr. Burnett was always a very headstrong man; he
had quarrelled with this young man, as he said, irreparably, and could not
be induced to leave him even a hundred pounds. I thought this was harsh,
and as Mr. Burnett's friend I told him so--I have always been opposed to
extreme measures,--but he was not to be gainsaid. So the matter remained
for many years; never did Mr. Burnett mention his nephew's name. I thought
he had forgotten the young man's existence, when, suddenly, without
warning, Mr. Burnett came into my office and told me that he intended to
alter his will, leaving all his property to his nephew, Hubert Price. You
know what old friends we were, and, presuming on our friendship, I told him
what I thought of his project of disinheritance, for it amounted to that.
Well, suffice it to say, we very nearly quarrelled over the matter. I
refused to draw up the will, so iniquitous did it seem to me. He said:
"Very well, Grandly, I'll go elsewhere." Then I remembered that if I
allowed him to go elsewhere I should lose all hold over him, and I
consented to draw up the will.'

Emily listened, a vague expression of pain in her pathetic eyes. Then this
house, this room where she was sitting, was not hers, and a strange man
would come soon and drive her away!

'And he has left Ashwood to Mr. Price, is not that his name?' she said,
abruptly.