"You mean about cutting out John and putting in Mr. Hugh Hildebrand?"
"Yes."
"Persistent! Well, I dare say you could have called it that," replied Betty thoughtfully. "She certainly said several times that John Thaneford believed himself entitled to the property; she pointed out that when father succeeded his cousin, Richard Hildebrand, he had as much as promised to make such disposition of the 'Hundred.'"
"Which he really had done," I suggested. "The first will was in existence; only now he proposed to alter it."
"Yes."
"Suppose Mr. Graeme had died intestate," I went on. "What then?"
"I dare say the real property would have gone to Betty as his legally adopted daughter," answered Doctor Marcy.
"No, not legally," explained Betty, much to our surprise. "My name is really Graeme, but it comes to me from my own father who was Francis Graeme's older brother. I was only a baby when my parents died, and my uncle simply took charge of me. It didn't seem necessary to take out formal adoption papers, and anyhow it was never done."
"Oh, undoubtedly there would have been a lawsuit, in the event of no will," remarked the doctor. "Both Betty and John Thaneford could put in the claim of blood relationship; you, too, Mr. Hildebrand, if it comes to that. Bear in mind there is no entail."
"Was Mr. John Thaneford aware that there had been a will drawn in his favor?" I asked.