'I am glad you did not see her again,' burst from Felix, the tears starting forth as he copied her hopeful words. 'She altered sadly.'
'Ah! indeed.'
The concerned tone forced Felix to add, 'It came so much more heavily on her than on any of us, care and work and years of seeing my father's health failing; and in the last week of his life she had a fall, that brought on softening of the brain.'
Somehow, the whole had never struck him as so piteous before as in the contrast with her youthful brightness, and when he saw Mr. Staples greatly affected. He could only write on through a mist of tears, while the solicitor walked about the room, blowing his nose violently, and muttering sentences never developed; till at last he came behind Felix's chair, and laying his hand on his shoulder, said, 'After all, it will come round. You are next heir.'
'Heir? There's Fulbert Underwood!' exclaimed Felix.
'True; but he's been some years married, and there's no sign of a family. Depend upon it, we shall see Vale Leston come back yet.'
'It would make no difference now,' muttered Felix, as he traced his mother's fearless lines; nay, if he had a personal thought, it was of what he might have ventured towards Alice Knevett.
'Not to them,' said Mr. Staples, 'but a good deal to you, my young friend.'
'Now, Mr. Staples,' said Felix, smiling, 'aren't you doing our best to unsettle a young man in business?'
'Well, well, you are too reasonable. A contingency—only a contingency. But I should like to show you.' And he hastily sketched a pedigree that had at least the advantage of showing Felix his relationships.