“Master Hampdon,� she began wearily, “will you come into the house? Master Ficklin, the lawyer, is here, waiting to go over my father’s papers with me. You have stood by me manfully, your people and my people have been—� she stopped a moment, “friends,� she added with kindly condescension, “for five hundred years. I have no one else with whom to counsel. Come with me.�
Sir Geoffrey’s will, as Master Ficklin read it, was a simple affair. It left everything of which he died possessed to his daughter. Unfortunately, he died possessed of nothing; the document was mere waste paper. Everything was mortgaged, every family portrait, even. Mistress Lucy appeared to have no legal right to anything in or out of the castle apparently, save the clothes she wore.
“Sir Geoffrey,� said Master Ficklin, endeavoring to put a good face on the matter, “was well meaning—most well meaning. Not only did he play high and long at the gaming table but he speculated also, for he was always trusting to recoup himself; in which event doubtless there would have been a handsome patrimony for his daughter.�
“You may spare me any encomiums of my father, Master Ficklin,� said Mistress Lucy very haughtily; “I knew his devotion and affection better than anyone possibly could.�
In her mind there was no double meaning to these brave words she uttered so quickly, although I listened amazed. To rob his daughter of her all in the indulgence of a wicked passion for gaming and speculation was no great evidence of devotion or affection, I thought. However, Master Ficklin was only putting the best face upon a sorry matter, and for that I honored him, for all my mistress’ haughty and imperious manner.
“The point is, however,� she continued, as Master Ficklin bowed deferentially toward her, “that I have nothing.�
“Nothing from your father, madam,� answered the man of law.
“But my mother’s estate?�
“I regret to say,� said Master Ficklin, “that most of it has been converted into money and—er—lost by your father. Strictly speaking he had no—er—legal right to dispose of your property and we might recover by suits at law from those—�
“I gave him the right,� interrupted Mistress Lucy quickly.