Chapter 1 Summary

James Macfadden dies in March 1905, leaving his money to son Douglas. In 1935, Douglas' brother-in-law, Arthur Paget, dies accidentally in Malaya and Douglas contacts his lawyers about changing his will to set up a trust for his widowed sister Jean and her minor children. The narrator, Noel H. Strachan, is the firm's senior partner and Douglas' solicitor. He joins an annual fishing trip with a visit to his client. Although only in his fifties, Douglas is infirm, living below his means and without close relatives. The widow is in England, supervising the education of Donald (born 1918) and Jean (1921). Douglas wants Donald to inherit the estate intact after his mother's death and allows provision for young Jean, should mother and brother predecease her, but not before age 25. Strachan as executor and trustee returns to London, drafts the will, sends it off for signature, and never...