Judge Kirtley sat up in his easy chair, scenting danger. It was unusual for an attorney to apologize for a will. But Margaret was motionless. She was thinking of the date. It was the day Victor left her—two days before Philip was born.
Then the attorney read:
"To my beloved brother, Richard De Jarnette, who has been to me a father, I give and bequeath the custody and tuition of my child until it shall be of full age, and I direct that such disposition shall be good and effectual against all and every person or persons claiming the custody and tuition of said child."
For a moment there was not a sound. It was Margaret, again, who broke the silence. She turned to Judge Kirtley, a look of bewilderment on her face, but no alarm.
"'Custody,'" she repeated, simply. "What does it mean by 'custody'? Is it the care of the property?"
The Judge's face looked gray in its rigidity. He shook his head slightly and then motioned toward Mr. Jarvis.
"Mr. De Jarnette's attorney will explain," he said, briefly.
Margaret turned to the lawyer who still held the paper in his hand. "You see I am very ignorant of legal terms," she said, with a pitiful little attempt at apology,—"I have never had anything to do with the law—and I do not quite understand what 'custody' means here. Is it that Mr. De Jarnette is by this codicil appointed Philip's guardian—to take care of his property?"
The attorney did not look up from the papers he was fingering. Indeed, as she looked from one to another in her perplexity Margaret saw only averted faces. There was not one that was ready to look into her anxious, pleading eyes.
"Mrs. De Jarnette," said the attorney, moistening his dry lips, "this means something more serious than that, or rather it would if Mr. De Jarnette were inclined to insist upon the letter of the law—which, of course, he will not do—" with a rather imploring glance in the direction of the gentleman referred to. Mr. De Jarnette sat unmoved and immovable, not showing by the change of a muscle that he heard the appeal, and the lawyer went on. "Custody in this sense does not mean the guardianship of property, but of the person."