George turned pale, and his wife was threatened with hysterics.
"What are the conditions?" asked George, hoarsely.
Aunt Phœbe rose to her feet.
"The conditions," she said, in an awesome voice, "are these: If the legacies revert to you, and you lose them, the Fairbrother fortune goes too. Every penny of your wife's income goes to charities!"
George Early's jaw dropped, and he sat in a helpless heap. His little wife burst into tears.
Presently George roused himself and took a glass of wine.
"Aunt Phœbe," he said; "did Old Fairbrother put those conditions in his will with regard to the three legacies?"
"I have said so," was the reply. "They were entirely the idea of Mr. Joseph Fairbrother himself."
"Then all I can say," said George—"all I can say is that he was a SILLY OLD FOOL!"
