His wife I have never met. But those old Schuyler women get on my
nerves. So you look after them. You're more of a ladies' man than I
am, so you go there and talk pretty when they want legal advice."

"I'm willing," I agreed. "I don't care such a lot for the sisters
myself, but Mrs. Schuyler is a young thing, ignorant of her own
rights, and those old maids boss her like fury. I'm going to see that
she has her own way in some few things, at least. She inherits half
the fortune, you know."

"Yes, and the sisters a quarter each. That is, after some minor
bequests and charitable donations are settled. Schuyler was a good
sort--as men go."

"Then men go pretty badly! He was a brute to his wife; I've been told
he ruled her with a rod of iron, and what he didn't bother her about,
the old sisters did."

"That's neither here nor there. Don't you try to be a peacemaker in
that family. I know those two old ladies, and they'd resent anything
in the way of criticism of their treatment of their sister-in-law.
And, if Schuyler didn't treat his wife handsomely, she's rid of him
now, at any rate."

"You're a cold-blooded thing, Bradbury," I informed him, "and I am
going to do all I can for that young widow. She'll have a lot of
unpleasant publicity at best, and if I can shield her from part of it,
so much the better."

"All right, Calhoun. Do what you like, but don't get in on the