“And if I reject?”
“Then the whole reverts to me.”
The young man’s eyes took a sudden softness. He was only thirty-one, and susceptible yet to impressions of unworldliness.
“I fail to see your profit in the matter,” he said.
“My profit,” answered the lawyer sternly, “was in a good man’s confidence.”
Then he went on more gently:
“I sought no profit in the transaction. I would have sacrificed more than the estate to save you and myself the necessity of this explanation. It was my affection for your father bound me to this solemn compact, as it was my regard for the latter drove me unknown to you to set an anxious eye upon your career.”
“And so pluck a fool from the burning and lose an estate.”
Sir Robert advanced impetuously and seized the other’s corded hand.
“You are a noble soul. I will learn to pray, and you shall be my saint to intercede. I take my life from you and this strange trust; doing my duty by it and asking no questions.”