‘Four trustees, ma’am.  We take little but trouble—­you’ll see; go on.’

Then it came out that all this multifarious splendour was bequeathed in trust for me, subject to a bequest of 15,000_l_. to his only brother, Silas Aylmer Ruthyn, and 3,500_l_. each to the two children of his said brother; and lest any doubt should arise by reason of his, the testator’s decease as to the continuance of the arrangement by way of lease under which he enjoyed his present habitation and farm, he left him the use of the mansion-house and lands of Bartram-Haugh, in the county of Derbyshire, and of the lands of so-and-so and so-and-so, adjoining thereto, in the said county, for the term of his natural life, on payment of a rent of 5_s_. per annum, and subject to the like conditions as to waste, &c., as are expressed in the said lease.

’By your leave, may I ask is them dispositions all the devises to my client, which is his only brother, as it seems to me you’ve seen the will before?’ enquired Mr. Sleigh.

‘Nothing more, unless there is something in the codicil,’ answered Dr. Bryerly.

But there was no mention of him in the codicil.

Mr. Sleigh threw himself back in his chair, and sneered, with the end of his pencil between his teeth.  I hope his disappointment was altogether for his client.  Mr. Danvers fancied, he afterwards said, that he had probably expected legacies which might have involved litigation, or, at all events, law costs, and perhaps a stewardship; but this was very barren; and Mr. Danvers also remarked, that the man was a very low practitioner, and wondered how my uncle Silas could have commissioned such a person to represent him.

So far the will contained nothing of which my most partial friend could have complained.  The codicil, too, devised only legacies to servants, and a sum of 1,000_l_., with a few kind words, to Monica, Lady Knollys, and a further sum of 3,000_l_. to Dr. Bryerly, stating that the legatee had prevailed upon him to erase from the draft of his will a bequest to him to that amount, but that, in consideration of all the trouble devolving upon him as trustee, he made that bequest by his codicil; and with these arrangements the permanent disposition of his property was completed.

But that direction to which he and Doctor Bryerly had darkly alluded, was now to come, and certainly it was a strange one.  It appointed my uncle Silas my sole guardian, with full parental authority over me until I should have reached the age of twenty-one, up to which time I was to reside under his care at Bartram-Haugh, and it directed the trustees to pay over to him yearly a sum of 2,000_l_. during the continuance of the guardianship for my suitable maintenance, education, and expenses.