retired with Peter to their rooms in the roof; the Mortimers, after
partaking of a slight repast in the great parlour, stepped out and began
to pace up and down before the house to refresh their spirits with a
little air.

The will had been read in the morning, before the funeral took place.
Valentine Mortimer and John Mortimer, the two grandsons, were both
present. Valentine being a mere boy, barely eighteen, may well have been
excused if he did not notice anything peculiar in the demeanour of the
two old men; did not notice, as John Mortimer did, the restless
excitement of both, and how they appeared to be sustaining and
encouraging one another, and yet, when the important sentence came which
left them without so much as a shilling, how bravely and soberly they
took it, without the least betrayal of mortified feeling, without any
change of countenance or even of attitude.

Valentine had often heard his father say that he had no expectations
from his mother, that he was quite sure the property never would come to
him. He had believed this, and excepting that he found the preamble of
the will solemn and the reading impressive, he did not take any special
interest in it.

Every shilling and every acre were left to little Peter Melcombe, his
mother being appointed his sole guardian till he reached the age of
twelve years, and a request being added that her dear son Daniel would
see to the repairing of the house, and the setting in order of the
garden and woodland.

"And yet not a shilling left to either of them," thought John. "I always
fancied there was some estrangement--felt sure of it; but if my father