"None at all. He simply falls back on the will and says he wants to carry out his brother's wishes."
"There is some reason," she said positively. "He hates me. For what cause I cannot tell. I have felt it since the day Victor died. He has avoided me ever since. I am afraid of him. And yet I feel powerless before a fear that cannot even be defined. Why should he hate me?"
"I think that is imagination. Are you willing to talk with him?"
"Why, certainly."
"Very well then, I shall arrange for you to see him to-morrow—in his private office."
Then they fell to talking about the will and Margaret said, hesitatingly, "Judge Kirtley, are you sure it wouldn't make any difference—Philip's not being born when the will was made, I mean. It seems as if it must make a difference."
He went to the library and took down the Statute Book, turning to Chapter XXVII, Section one, and read:
"Sec. 1. ... That when any person hath or shall have any child or children under the age of one and twenty years, and not married at the time of his death, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the father of such child or children, whether born at the time of the decease of the father, or at that time in ventre sa mere; or whether such father be within the age of one and twenty years, or of full age, by his deed executed in his lifetime, or by his last will and testament in writing, in the presence of two or more credible witnesses, in such manner, and from time to time as he shall respectively think fit, to dispose of the custody and tuition of such child or children, for, and during such time as he and they shall respectively remain under the age of one and twenty years, or any lesser time, to any person or persons in possession or remainder, other than Popish recusants:—"
She listened carefully. As he closed the book she said scathingly, "I don't wonder they put it in a foreign tongue. That would sound very harsh in English."
Then after a moment she asked, "Judge Kirtley, how does it happen that such an infamous law was ever put upon our Statute Books?"