It stated clearly and concisely that all other wills made by him were revoked, and that he had discovered the reports brought to him by his nephew, Luis Kingsley, about Lynde Pyne to be utterly and entirely false, and that in consideration of the evil character which it showed the said Luis Kingsley to possess, he desired that it should be known that he made Lynde Pyne heir to all his estates, real and personal, cutting Luis Kingsley off with the proverbial dollar.
Then after it had been read and re-read, the will dropped into the girl's lap, and her eyes gazed dreamily from the window.
It was her father who had made that will, her father who had died believing that the woman he had made his wife was a bigamist.
Her father who had died in ignorance even of her birth.
She knew enough of law to know that all she would be required to do would be to produce that marriage certificate that was in her possession, together with the record of her birth, to break that will, having all those millions come to her; but the thought brought her no pleasure.
Even if she had desired to take from Lynde Pyne what his uncle had given him, she would be forced to make public her mother's disgrace in order to do that, and not all the money in the universe could have tempted her to even consider it.
Her duty was clear enough.
She must face Evelyn Chandler with the proofs in her possession; she must know beyond a doubt that the engagement between her and Lynde Pyne was broken, she must restore the will to the one most interested and then——
Her work would be accomplished, and for the sake of her mother's memory she must go away where the secret could be preserved.
It was not a pleasant prospect; and now that she felt her mission was about at an end, the desolation and loneliness of her position struck her with greater force than it ever had since that morning when she knew that her single friend had left her forever.