'"Since the chances that Guy will obtain the ring from Miss Bewicke are not very large, that young woman preferring to keep tight hold of anything she has once laid her hands on, in making this will I am doing Horace even more than justice."
'"In the improbable case of the delivery of my ruby signet ring by Guy to Samuel Collyer, within the aforementioned three months of my decease, it is to be held by the said Samuel Collyer, and not to pass out of his possession until his death, when it is to be sold, and the proceeds devoted to form a Society for the Reformation of Actresses."
'"As witness my hand and signature this seventeenth day of June, Eighteen hundred and ninety-nine. George Burton."
'"Witnesses--"
'"John Claney, 13 Porchester Terrace, W."
'"Augustus Evans, 83 Belgrave Row, S.W."'
The reading was followed by silence, broken by a question from Mr Holland.
'And pray what is the plain English of it all?'
'The will is plain English. You are to obtain a certain ring from a certain lady and deliver it to me within a certain time. If you do so you are your uncle's heir; if you do not, Mr Horace is.'
'Within three months of his death. He died on the 23rd of February. This is the 19th of May. I have four days in which to get the ring.'