Still he did not answer.

“Will, you’ll let me take the money, won’t you?”

“I don’t know.  I must think.”

“Yes, dear, but you’ll think sensibly, won’t you?  Think of the use—­to both of us.  If it’s mine in name, I count it all as yours every bit as much as mine.”

“That’s enough now.  Don’t go on talking about it.”

“All right.  Are you going to stop at Mr. Bates’?”

“No.”

“He was very pressing.”

“I’ve no spirit to tell him—­or any one else—­what we’ve heard over there.”

“Will,” and she drew close to him, nestling against him as much as she could venture to do without causing him difficulty in driving, “you said we were to look forward, not back.  Don’t get thinking of the past.  What’s done is done—­and it must be right to be happy if we can.”

“Ah,” and he gave a snort, “that’s what the heathens used to say.  I thought you were a Christian.”

“So I am, Will.  Christ preached mercy—­yes, and happiness too.”

“Thought He preached remorse for sins before you reach pardon and peace.  But never mind religion—­don’t let’s drag that in.  And leave me alone.  Don’t talk.  I tell you I want to think.”

“Very well, dear.  Only this one thing.  Keep this before you.  Now that he’s dead—­”

“I’ve asked you to hold your tongue.”

“And I will.  But let me finish.  However lofty you choose to look at it, it can’t be wrong to take the money now he’s gone.”

“I wish his money had gone with him.  Look at it lofty or low—­take it or leave it—­this cursed legacy reminds me of all I was trying to forget.”

XI

Full particulars of the disposition of Mr. Barradine’s fortune had now been published, and the world was admiringly talking about it.

The claims of the entire Petherick family would be once for all satisfied.  Mrs. Petherick and that young person who had been sent to learn music at Vienna were each to receive as much as Mavis Dale; three other Pethericks would get five hundred pounds apiece; still more Pethericks would be dowered in a lesser degree.  Then came the ordinary servants, with legacies proportionate to terms of service—­everybody remembered, nobody left out in the cold.  Then, with nice lump sums of increasing magnitude, came a baker’s dozen of Barradine nephews, nieces, and second cousins; the Abbey domain was to go to an elderly first cousin; and then, after bequests to various charities, came the grand item that the local solicitor had in his mind when he foretold a salvo of newspaper comment.