Mr Chorberry, the solicitor, came without delay, but he could give me no comfort. My poor father, by that strange indifference which has been the curse of so many, had put off making his will until it was too late, by reason of which he had left the one to whom he owed most in the world, the woman who had sacrificed friends and reputation to spend her life in a dull country home, administering to his pleasures, entirely dependent on her own resources for support—whilst the faithless, drunken creature he had the misfortune to be still chained to, walked in as the lawful wife, and claimed her share of the property. There was only one drop of balm in his decision. I, as my father’s son, shared what he had left behind him, but my angel mother and dear baby-sister were cast upon the world to shift for themselves.
And this was the law.
Oh, father! did your spirit look down from whichever sphere it had been translated to, and witness this?
‘But, surely,’ I said to Chorberry, ‘there can be no necessity for my mother leaving Lilyfields before the funeral?’
‘Of course there is no necessity; but do you think it advisable, under the circumstances, that she should remain? Mrs Vere has the legal power to enforce her departure, and I am afraid will not be slow to use it.’
My mother evidently was of one mind with him, for in an incredibly short space of time she had packed her belongings. Mrs Vere, standing over her meanwhile to see she did not purloin anything from the house, and was waiting in the hall with little Violet, ready to go to the house of the clergyman’s wife, who, to her honour, having heard how matters stood at Lilyfields, had promptly sent my mother an invitation to the vicarage for the night.
‘Are you ready, dear mother?’ I said sadly, as I joined her in the hall, and drew her arm within my own.
‘Well, Mr Charles, I suppose I shall see you back again here before long?’ screamed the shrill voice of Mrs Vere down the staircase.
I started.
See me back! Was it possible that this woman believed I intended to make friends with her?