Dawn eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 695 pages of information about Dawn.

Dawn eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 695 pages of information about Dawn.

One day she was walking home by the path round the lake, after paying a visit to a sick child in the village, when she suddenly came face to face with her father.  She expected that he would as usual pass on without addressing her, and drew to one side of the path to allow him to do so, but to her surprise he stopped.

“Where have you been, Angela?”

“To see Ellen Mim; she is very ill, poor child.”

“You had better be careful; you will be catching scarlet fever or something—­there is a great deal about.”

“I am not at all afraid.”

“Yes; but you never think that you may bring it home to me.”

“I never thought that there was any likelihood of my bringing anything to you.  We see so little of each other.”

“Well, well, I have been to Isleworth to see your cousin George; he is very ill.”

“You told me that he was ill some time back.  What is it that is really the matter with him?”

“Galloping consumption.  He cannot last long.”

“Poor man, why does he not go to a warmer climate?”

“I don’t know—­that is his affair.  But it is a serious matter for me.  If he dies under present circumstances, all the Isleworth estates, which are mine by right, must pass away from the family forever.”

“Why must they pass away?”

“Because your grandfather, with a refined ingenuity, made a provision in his will that George was not to leave them back to me, as he was telling me this afternoon he is anxious to do.  If he were to die now with a will in my favour, or without any will at all, they would all go to some far away cousins in Scotland.”

“He died of heart-disease, did he not?—­my grandfather, I mean?”

Philip’s face grew black as night, and he shot a quick glance of suspicion at his daughter.

“I was saying,” he went on, without answering her question, “that George may sell the land or settle it, but must not leave it to me or you, nor can I take under an intestacy.”

Angela did not understand these legal intricacies, and knew about as much about the law of intestacy as she did of Egyptian inscriptions.

“Well,” she said, consolingly, “I am very sorry, but it can’t be helped, can it?”

“The girl is a born fool,” muttered Philip beneath his breath, and passed on.

A week or so afterwards, just when the primroses and Lent-lilies were at the meridian of their beauty and all the air was full of song, Angela heard more about her cousin George.  Mr. Fraser was one day sent for to Isleworth; Lady Bellamy brought him the message, saying that George was in such a state of health that he wished to see a clergyman.

“I never saw a worse case,” he said to Angela on his return.  “He does not leave the house, but lies in a darkened room coughing and spitting blood.  He is, I should say, going off fast; but he refuses to see a doctor.  His frame of mind, however, is most Christian, and he seems to have reconciled himself to the prospect of a speedy release.”

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Project Gutenberg
Dawn from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.