"Ay, who?" put in Mr. Edwin Barley.
"This little girl, Anne Ursula Hereford. Mrs. Edwin Barley bequeathed to her the whole of her money, and also her trinkets, except the trinkets that had been your own gift to her, Mr. Edwin Barley." And he proceeded to detail the provisions of the short will. "In fact, she left to Miss Hereford everything of value she had to leave; money, clothes, trinkets. It is most strange where the will can be."
"It is more than strange," observed Mr. Edwin Barley. "Why did she wish to make the will in secret?"
"I have told you, sir, that she did not say why."
"But can you not form an idea why?"
"It occurred to me that she thought you might not like her leaving all she had away from you, and might have feared you would interfere."
"No," he quietly said, "I should not have done that. Every wish that she confided to me should have been scrupulously carried out."
"Oh, but come, you know! a big sheet of parchment, sealed and inscribed, can't vanish in this way," exclaimed Mr. Barley. "It must be somewhere in the room."
It might be, but nobody could find it. Mr. Barley got quite excited and angry: Mr. Edwin was calm throughout. Mr. Barley went to the door, calling out for Miss Delves.
"Charlotte, come up here. Do you hear, Charlotte?"