“That’s all right.  I know a gentleman when I see him, unless I happen to lose my head, and that doesn’t occur very often.  Now it’s different with the governor.  He’s got so confoundedly wrought up over that will, don’t you know, that he can’t think of anything else, and there’s no reason in him.”

“As I understand it,” remarked Scott, “Mr. Mainwaring expects to win the property in any case, either for you or for himself.”

“Yes; and naturally you might think that the loss of the will wouldn’t amount to much, one way or the other; but it’s like this:  the governor and I are very different; I know we’ve got plenty of ducats, and that’s enough for me, but not for him; he is ambitious.  It has always galled him that we were not in the direct line of descent from the main branch of the Mainwarings; and it has been his one great ambition since the death of old Ralph Mainwaring, Hugh’s father, a few years before I was born, to win into his own family the old Mainwaring estate.  He had an idea that Hugh would never marry, and gave me his name, hoping that I would be made his heir.  Should the governor succeed in this scheme of his, he will immediately buy back the Mainwaring estate, although he knows I don’t care a rap for the whole thing, and we will then have the honor, as he considers it, of perpetuating the old family line.  On the other hand, if the property goes to the nearest heirs, it will be divided between him and his younger brother.  Uncle Harold has no more ambition than I have, and though he is at present a bachelor, that is no guarantee that he will remain one; and, anyhow, it isn’t likely that there will be much of his share left when he gets through with it.  So you see how much importance the governor attached to that will.”

“I understand,” said Scott, as his companion paused.  Then he added, musingly, “Your uncle’s name seems to be rather unusual among the Mainwarings; I do not recall your having mentioned it before.”

“What, Harold?  On the contrary, it is the great name in our family, especially in the main line.  I would have been given that name if the governor had not been looking out for Hugh Mainwaring’s money.  There was a direct line of Harolds down to my great-grandfather.  He gave the name to his eldest son, but he died, and the next one, Ralph, Hugh’s father, took up the line.  Guy, my grandfather, was the youngest.”

“One would almost have thought that Hugh Mainwaring would have borne the name of Harold,” commented Scott.

Young Mainwaring smoked for a moment in silence, then said, in lower tones, “Old Uncle Ralph had a son by that name.”

“Indeed!  Had Hugh Mainwaring a brother?” Scott asked in surprise.

“Yes, there was a brother, but he died a great many years ago.  There is quite a story connected with his name, but I don’t know many of the particulars, for the governor seldom alludes to it.  I know, however, that Harold was the elder son, but that Uncle Ralph disinherited him for marrying against his wishes, and afterwards died of grief over the affair, and soon after his father’s death Harold was lost at sea.”