She took up the will and read it through.
In few words, and to the point, Drownlands had constituted her sole heir and legatee to everything he possessed, on the one condition that she remained in his house through the rest of his life.
She put the paper down on the table again, without, however, releasing it from her hand, and stood considering.
'There is one thing,' she said, after a long pause, 'one thing I must stick out for whether I stay here for a short time or for long.'
'What is that?'
'That you board up the shed where my van is kept, so that the fowls may not roost on it.'
Then in at the door came Mrs. Tunkiss.
'There's Mark Runham come,' she said to the master, after looking suspiciously first at Zita, then at him. 'And he says he must speak with you on business.'
'Mark?—Mark again? Bring him here. I am not afraid of him now. Come, Zita, what say you to my offer?'