"Indeed! too far for a drive, then. Yes, my sister lives at Stanfield. John never knew much of her in his adversity; and therefore may be forgiven if he forgot her in his prosperity. But she did not forget him. We poor relations have excellent memories. The Stanfield people have so little to talk about, that it is scarcely any wonder if they are inquisitive about the affairs of the grand country gentry round about them. I heard of John through my sister; I heard of his marriage through her,"––he bowed to Olivia as he said this,––"and I wrote immediately to congratulate him upon that happy event,"––he bowed again here;––"and it was through Lavinia Weston, my sister, that I heard of poor John's death; one day before the announcement appeared in the columns of the 'Times.' I am sorry to find that I am too late for the funeral. I could have wished to have paid my cousin the last tribute of esteem that one man can pay another."
"You would wish to hear the reading of the will?" Olivia said, interrogatively.
Paul Marchmont shrugged his shoulders, with a low, careless laugh; not an indecorous laugh,––nothing that this man did or said ever appeared ill–advised or out of place. The people who disliked him were compelled to acknowledge that they disliked him unreasonably, and very much on the Doctor–Fell principle; for it was impossible to take objection to either his manners or his actions.
"That important legal document can have very little interest for me, my dear Mrs. Marchmont," he said gaily. "John can have had nothing to leave me. I am too well acquainted with the terms of my grandfather's will to have any mercenary hopes in coming to Marchmont Towers."
He stopped, and looked at Olivia's impassible face.
"What on earth could have induced this woman to marry my cousin?" he thought. "John could have had very little to leave his widow."
He played with the ornaments at his watch–chain, looking reflectively at the fire for some moments.
"Miss Marchmont,––my cousin, Mary Marchmont, I should say,––bears her loss pretty well, I hope?"
Olivia shrugged her shoulders.
"I am sorry to say that my stepdaughter displays very little Christian resignation," she said.