Sir Julius was silent, and made no more objection to Mr. Cheriton. I could not but see how Mrs. Deborah put him down, whenever they were together.
We had another very unexpected guest at the funeral. Notice of Mrs. Chloe's death had been sent to an aunt of Mrs. Deborah's who had married one of the Scots of Eskdale, and was called Lady Thornyhaugh, after the name of the estate, as the custom is in Scotland concerning landed proprietors. She was a widow of many years standing, and was about eighty-five years old, though no one would have taken her to be seventy. She arrived on horseback riding behind a trusty man-servant, and attended by her bower-woman, as she called her, as old, upright, and active as herself.
I fell in love with her at once, and she was kind enough to take equally to me. Her presence was a great comfort to us all, and especially to Mrs. Deborah. She was a beautiful old lady, with silvery white hair which would curl in spite of her, eyes the exact counterpart of Amabel's, and a perfectly refined and ladylike manner. She spoke with a very strong Scotch accent, but we had learned Scotch enough from Elsie, not to mind that.
The funeral was celebrated, and then came the reading of the will, at which all the family were present. It seemed that Mrs. Chloe was much richer than either of her sisters, since beside her share of her mother's fortune, which was not inconsiderable, she had inherited some five thousand pounds from a god-mother, for whom she was named.
This fortune, after a legacy of five hundred pounds apiece to her brother and Mrs. Brown, and the same to myself; was equally divided between Mrs. Deborah and Amabel. Mrs. Deborah's portion was also to be divided between Amabel and me after her death. Remembrances were left to Doctor Brown and Mr. Lethbridge, to the doctor and lawyer, and to each of the servants—even to the little girl who weeded the flower-beds.
I think, Mrs. Philippa—I shall never learn to write Mrs. Brown—was disappointed a little, but if so she was too proud to show it. Indeed, I must say that no one could have behaved better than she did throughout the whole affair. I should say that Mrs. Chloe left "my Sister Brown" all her ornaments, of which she had a great many, and a fine cupboard of blue china which she had been collecting all her life, and which Mrs. Philippa had always coveted.
Sir Julius, on the contrary, did not try to hide his vexation. It was plain that he had always counted on Mrs. Chloe's leaving all her money to himself, and I was wicked enough to be glad to see him disappointed. He swore roundly at Mr. Thirlwall for allowing Mrs. Chloe to make such an absurd will, and for not letting him know about it in time to have it altered.
The old gentleman took snuff, and answered quietly that it was not his place to betray the secrets of his clients, but that if Sir Julius was dissatisfied, he was quite welcome to employ any other lawyer he pleased; whereat Sir Julius drew in his horns, if I may be allowed the expression, and began to stammer some sort of apology.
"I am astonished at you, brother, I am, indeed!" said Mrs. Brown, with a great deal of real dignity. "My Sister Chloe had a right to dispose of her property as she pleased, and I for one am quite satisfied with the arrangement. Doctor Brown, are you not satisfied with my sister's disposition of her estate?"
"Certainly, my dear, certainly," replied the doctor; "and I should have been satisfied if the good lady had not left us a penny."