Frank had long ago gone back to the kitchen and the baby. He had no special interest in what they were talking about, nor was it needful that he should have. He was safe with Roger, who, to the lawyer’s suggestion, replied:
“I shall do Frank justice, as I am sure he would have done me, had the tables been reversed.”
The lawyer bowed himself out, and Roger was alone with his sister-in-law, who looked so white, and injured, and disappointed, that he felt, to say the least, very uncomfortable in her presence. He had not liked her manner at all, and had caught glimpses of a far worse disposition than he had thought she possessed, while he was morally certain that she was ready and willing to trample on all his rights, and even cast him aloof from his home if she could. Still, he would rather be on friendly terms with her, for Frank’s sake, if for no other, and so he went up to her, and said:
“I know you are disappointed if you really believed father had left the most of his money to Frank.”
“I don’t believe. I know; and there has been foul play somewhere. He told me he had made another will, here in this very room.”
“Helen,” Roger said, calling her, as he seldom did, by her Christian name, and having in his voice more of sorrow than anger—“Helen, why did father wish to serve me so, when he was always so kind? What reason did he give?”
Roger’s eyes were full of tears, and there was a grieved look in his face as he waited his sister’s answer. Squire Irving had given her no reason for the unjust act. She had given the reason to him, making him for a time almost a madman, but she could not give that reason to the boy, although she had in a moment of passion hinted at it, and drawn down Hester’s vengeance on her head. If he had not understood her then, she would not wound him now by the cruel suspicion. Thus reasoned the better nature of the woman, while her mean, grasping spirit suggested that in case the will was not found, it would be better to stand well in Roger’s good opinion. So she replied, very blandly and smoothly:
“After your father had given my husband his portion, he grew much richer than he had ever been before, and I suppose he thought it was only fair that Frank should have what would have come to his father if the estate had been equally divided. I never supposed you were cut off entirely; that would have been unnatural.”
Roger was not satisfied with this explanation, for sharing equally with Frank, and being cut off with only a legacy, were widely different things, and her words at one time had implied that the latter was the case. He did not, however, wish to provoke her to another outburst; and so, with a few words to the effect that Frank should not suffer at his hands, he bade his sister good-night, and repaired to his own room. He had passed through a great deal, and was too tired and excited to care even for the baby that night; and, when Hester knocked at his door, he answered that he could not see her,—she must wait until to-morrow. So Hester went away, saying to herself:
“He’s a right to be let alone, if he wants to be, for he is now the master of Millbank.”