"'I am sorry to have bad news for you, Miss McNeill,' he said in a low voice, for he was a kind man, and what with the shock and the long journey she was looking very pale.
"'Oh, yes!' she answered, with a sort of weary surprise; 'I know it already. That is why I am come home--to Court, I mean.'
"He saw that she was thinking only of Robert Evans' death, which was not what was in his mind. 'It is about the will,' he said in a whisper, though he need not have been so careful, for everyone in the neighborhood had learned all about it from Gwen Madoc. 'It is a cruel will. I would not have made it for him, my dear. He has left Court to the Llewellyn Evanses, and the money between the Evanses of Nant and the Evan Bevans.'
"'It is quite right,' she answered, so calmly that he stared. 'My grandfather explained it to me. I fully understood that I was not to be in the will.'
"Mr. Hughes looked more and more puzzled. 'Oh, but,' he replied, 'it is not so bad as that. Your name is in the will. He has laid it upon those who get the land and money to provide for you--to settle a proper income upon you. And you may depend upon me for doing my best to have his wishes carried out, my dear.'
"The young lady turned very red, and raised her eyes sharply.
"'Who are to provide for me?' she asked.
"'The three families who divide the estate,' he said.
"'And are they obliged to do so?'
"'Well--no,' said he unwillingly. 'I am not sure that they are exactly obliged. But no doubt----'