"
"You shall not take it!" she said with passion.
He smiled at her suddenly.
"It is nothing to Lydia, to be poor?"
"And free--and happy--and alive!--no, nothing!"
At that he could only draw her to him again. She herself must needs bring
him back to the point.
"You have decided?"
"I could of course refuse the succession. That would throw the whole
property into Chancery; the personalty would go to the mother and
daughter, the real estate to whatever legal heirs could be discovered.
There are same distant cousins of Lady Tatham, I believe. However--that
did not attract me at all."
He rose from his seat beside her, and stood looking down upon her.
"You'll realize?--you'll understand?--that it seems to me just--and
desirable--that I should have some voice in the distribution of this
money, this and land, rather than leave it all to the action of a court.
Everything--as things are--is legally mine. The personalty is immense;
there are about thirty thousand acres of land, here and elsewhere; and
the collections can't be worth much less than half a million. I decline
to own them; but I intend to settle what becomes of them! Nash and others
say they will dispute the will. They won't. There is no case. As to the
personalty and the land--well, well, you'll see! As to the collections--I
mean to make them, if I can, of some use to the community. And in that
effort"--he spoke slowly--"I want you to help me!"
Their eyes met; hers full of tears.
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