On the Tuesday he received a scrawl from Mrs. Hopkins with a letter
from the lawyer--addressed to her. The lawyer wrote to say that he
would be down on Wednesday evening, would attend the funeral, and
read his client's will after they had performed the ceremony. He
went on to add that in obedience to Mrs. Morton's directions he had
invited Mr. Peter Morton to be present on the occasion. On the
Wednesday Reginald again went over, but left before the arrival of
the two gentlemen. On the Thursday he was there early, and of
course took upon himself the duty of chief mourner. Peter Morton
was there and showed, in a bewildered way, that he had been
summoned rather to the opening of the will than to the funeral of a
man he had never seen.
Then the will was read. There were only two names mentioned in it.
John Morton left 5,000 pounds and his watch and chain and rings to
Arabella Trefoil, and everything else of which he was possessed to
his cousin Reginald Morton.
"Upon my word I don't know why they sent for me," said the other
cousin, Peter.
"Mrs. Morton seemed to think that you would like to pay a tribute
of respect," said the lawyer. Peter looked at him and went upstairs
and packed his portmanteau. The lawyer handed over the keys to the
new squire, and then everything was done.
CHAPTER XI
The New Minister
"Poor old Paragon!" exclaimed Archibald Currie, as he stood with
his back to the fire among his colleagues at the Foreign Office on
the day after John Morton's death.
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