"My dear," said her uncle, in a surprised but kind tone, as one who
respected yet resented her feeling; "you may trust me not to rummage,
as you call it, unnecessarily; but I know that I am executor, if you
understand what that means, my dear."

"Of course," said Janet, affronted as she always was by being treated
as a child.

"To both wills," continued her uncle; "and it will save your mother
much trouble and distress if I can take steps towards acting on them
at once; and if you cannot tell where the keys are, I shall have to
look for them."

"Janet ought to obey at once," said her aunt, not adding to the
serenity of Janet's mind; but she turned on her heel, ungraciously
saying, "I'll get them;" and presently returned with her
grandmother's key-box, full of the housekeeping keys, and a little
key, which she gave to her uncle with great dignity, adding, "The key
of her desk is the Bramah one; I'll see for the others."

"A strange girl, that!" said her uncle, as she marched out of the
room.

"I am glad our Jessie has not her temper!" responded his wife; and
then they both repaired to old Mrs. Brownlow's special apartment, the
back drawing-room, while Janet quietly dropped downstairs with the
key she had taken from her father's table on her way to the
consulting-room. She intended to prevent any search, by herself
producing the will from among his papers, for she was in an agony
lest her uncle should discover the clue to the magnum bonum, of which