'You have had the bequest of an estate,' Mr. Adister said, to compliment him by touching on his affairs.
'A small one; not a quarter of a county,' said Patrick.
'Productive, sir?'
''Tis a tramp of discovery, sir, to where bog ends and cultivation begins.'
'Bequeathed to you exclusively over the head of your elder brother, I understand.'
Patrick nodded assent. 'But my purse is Philip's, and my house, and my horses.'
'Not bequeathed by a member of your family?'
'By a distant cousin, chancing to have been one of my godmothers.'
'Women do these things,' Mr. Adister said, not in perfect approbation of their doings.
'And I think too, it might have gone to the elder,' Patrick replied to his tone.