"Very--a very bad sign. When they began, Iuri Paylovitch sent at
once for the lawyer. He was still here when you arrived."

"Yes. And the old will, which he made before, has been destroyed?"

"I do not know for certain. But I think not. Oh, no, I forgot.
The general was going to send a telegram."

"Yes? to send a telegram?"

The general's wife shrugged her shoulders, sadly shook her head,
and added:

"He is so changeable! so changeable! But I think it is all the
same. According to law, only the last will is valid?"

"Yes, without doubt; the last."

The general's wife bowed her head.

"What hurts me most," she whispered, with a bitter smile, bending
close to the young doctor, and leaning heavily on his arm, "what
hurts me most, is not the money. I am not avaricious. But why
should he take my child away from me? Why should he pass over her
own mother, and intrust her to her half-sister? A woman whom I do
not know, who has not distinguished herself by any services or good
actions, so far as I know. I shall not submit. I shall contest
the will. The law must support the right of the mother. What do
you think, doctor?"