“That’s a fool idea. The doctor’s got to give me the dope again if I have another such night. I guess there wasn’t anything I didn’t think of. Lyin’ awake is about as near hell as I care to go.”
The querulousness manifest in the worst period of his illness had returned. He grumbled at the nurse’s arrangement of his pillows and asked for a tray in bed, saying he didn’t feel equal to sitting at the table.
“You sit there where I can look at you, Nan.”
She was aglow from her bath and showed no trace of her sleepless night. It was pathetically evident that her presence brought him pleasure and relief. He had been very happy of late, accepting fully her assurance that everything was over between her and Copeland. Her recent social activities and the fact that some of the “nice people” were showing a renewed interest in her added to his satisfaction. He bade her talk as he nibbled his toast and sipped his milk.
“I read the newspaper an hour ago clear through the births and deaths and didn’t see anything very cheerful. You been followin’ that Reid will case up at Cleveland? I guess you don’t read the papers much. You never did; but you ought to keep posted. Well, that’s a mighty interestin’ case. I guess the lawyers are goin’ to get all the money. I knew old Reid, and he was as sane a man as ever lived. There ain’t much use in a man tryin’ to make a will when they’re sure to tear it to pieces.”
Nan looked at him quickly. It was possible that he had missed the will and was speaking of wills in general as a prelude to pouncing upon her with a question as to whether she had seen it. But he was not in a belligerent humor. He went on to explain the legal points involved in the Reid case.
“If a lot o’ rascally lawyers get hold o’ my property, I won’t just turn over in my grave; I’ll keep revolvin’! Reid tried to fix things so his children wouldn’t squander his money. His daughters married fools and he wanted to try and protect ’em. And just for that they’ve had the will set aside on the ground that Reid was crazy.”
Nan acquiesced in his view of this as an outrage. And she really believed that it was, as Farley spoke of it.
“I sometimes wonder whether it ain’t better just to let things go,” he continued. “I been over this will business with Thurston a thousand times, and I’m never sure he knows what he’s talkin’ about. Wills made by the best lawyers in the country seem to break down; there ain’t nothin’ sure about it.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that, papa. Mr. Thurston ought to know about those things if anybody does.”