The codicil was something our hero did not like to see. The writer referred to Bob, and said he was glad to leave him to the care of such a guardian and protector as his Uncle Layton, who would do everything in the world that was best for him.
"Uncle Layton is not my guardian at all," said Bob, astonished beyond measure. "If he is, what did he turn me away for? He just as good as told me that I had my own living to make, and that I could not stay around his house any longer."
"I expect he did not want you around," said the lawyer. "I know I should not have wanted you in sight if I had treated you so meanly."
"I never heard of such a thing. But father says I am to have my ponies and boat. He can't take them away from me."
"No; he can't take them away, no matter how much he dislikes to see you have them. I confess that codicil bothers me more than a little," said the lawyer, who was at times so nervous that he could scarcely sit still. "It is written with a sputtering pen, such as your father always used, and I find not a letter in it that I can't find in the body of the will."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Bob.
"Why, I did not know but he had practiced on your father's hand until he got so that he could copy it exactly. Such things have been done before now."
"By George! I never thought of that! I wonder if he has been imitating my father's writing?"
"There is only one way in which you can prove it."
"And that is by bringing my father back here."