The Lady of the Shroud by Bram Stoker (knowledgeable books to read .txt) 📖

other or others who may later on have to continue

and complete the tasks entrusted to me.

 

I.

 

CONCERNING THE READING OF THE WILL OF ROGER MELTON.

 

When, beginning at 11 o’clock a.m. on this the forenoon of Thursday,

the 3rd day of January, 1907, I opened the Will and read it in full,

except the clauses contained in the letters marked “B” and “C”; there

were present in addition to myself, the following:

 

1. Ernest Halbard Melton, J.P, nephew of the testator.

 

2. Ernest Roger Halbard Melton, son of the above.

 

3. Rupert Sent Leger, nephew of the testator.

 

4. Major-General Sir Colin Alexander MacKelpie, Bart., co-executor

with myself of the Will.

 

5. Andrew Rossiter, my clerk, one of the witnesses of the testator’s

Will.

 

6. Alfred Nugent, stenographer (of Messrs. Castle’s office, 21,

Bream’s Buildings, W.C.).

 

When the Will had been read, Mr. E. H. Melton asked the value of the

estate left by the testator, which query I did not feel empowered or

otherwise able to answer; and a further query, as to why those

present were not shown the secret clauses of the Will. I answered by

reading the instructions endorsed on the envelopes of the two letters

marked “B” and “C,” which were sufficiently explanatory.

 

But, lest any question should hereafter arise as to the fact that the

memoranda in letters marked “B” and “C,” which were to be read as

clauses 10 and 11 of the Will, I caused Rupert Sent Leger to open the

envelope marked “B” in the presence of all in the room. These all

signed a paper which I had already prepared, to the effect that they

had seen the envelope opened, and that the memorandum marked “B. To

be read as clause ten of my Will,” was contained in the envelope, of

which it was to be the sole contents. Mr. Ernest Halbard Melton,

J.P., before signing, carefully examined with a magnifying-glass, for

which he had asked, both the envelope and the heading of the

memorandum enclosed in the letter. He was about to turn the folded

paper which was lying on the table over, by which he might have been

able to read the matter of the memorandum had he so desired. I at

once advised him that the memorandum he was to sign dealt only with

the heading of the page, and not with the matter. He looked very

angry, but said nothing, and after a second scrutiny signed. I put

the memorandum in an envelope, which we all signed across the flap.

Before signing, Mr Ernest Halbard Melton took out the paper and

verified it. I then asked him to close it, which he did, and when

the sealing-wax was on it he sealed it with his own seal. Sir Colin

A. MacKelpie and I also appended our own seals. I put the envelope

in another, which I sealed with my own seal, and my co-executor and I

signed it across the flap and added the date. I took charge of this.

When the others present had taken their departure, my co-executor and

I, together with Mr. Rupert Sent Leger, who had remained at my

request, went into my private room.

 

Here Mr. Rupert Sent Leger read the memorandum marked “B,” which is

to be read as clause 10 of the Will. He is evidently a man of

considerable nerve, for his face was quite impassive as he read the

document, which conveyed to him (subject to the conditions laid down)

a fortune which has no equal in amount in Europe, even, so far as I

know, amongst the crowned heads. When he had read it over a second

time he stood up and said:

 

“I wish I had known my uncle better. He must have had the heart of a

king. I never heard of such generosity as he has shown me. Mr.

Trent, I see, from the conditions of this memorandum, or codicil, or

whatever it is, that I am to declare within a week as to whether I

accept the conditions imposed on me. Now, I want you to tell me

this: must I wait a week to declare?” In answer, I told him that

the testator’s intention was manifestly to see that he had full time

to consider fully every point before making formal decision and

declaration. But, in answer to the specific question, I could answer

that he might make declaration when he would, provided it was WITHIN,

or rather not after, the week named. I added:

 

“But I strongly advise you not to act hurriedly. So enormous a sum

is involved that you may be sure that all possible efforts will be

made by someone or other to dispossess you of your inheritance, and

it will be well that everything shall be done, not only in perfect

order, but with such manifest care and deliberation that there can be

no question as to your intention.”

 

“Thank you, sir,” he answered; “I shall do as you shall kindly advise

me in this as in other things. But I may tell you now—and you, too,

my dear Sir Colin—that I not only accept my Uncle Roger’s conditions

in this, but that when the time comes in the other matters I shall

accept every condition that he had in his mind—and that I may know

of—in everything.” He looked exceedingly in earnest, and it gave me

much pleasure to see and hear him. It was just what a young man

should do who had seen so generously treated. As the time had now

come, I gave him the bulky letter addressed to him, marked “D” which

I had in my safe. As I fulfilled my obligation in the matter, I

said:

 

“You need not read the letter here. You can take it away with you,

and read it by yourself at leisure. It is your own property, without

any obligation whatever attached to it. By the way, perhaps it would

be well if you knew. I have a copy sealed up in an envelope, and

endorsed, ‘To be opened if occasion should arise,’ but not otherwise.

Will you see me to-morrow, or, better still, dine with me alone here

to-night? I should like to have a talk with you, and you may wish to

ask me some questions.” He answered me cordially. I actually felt

touched by the way he said good-bye before he went away. Sir Colin

MacKelpie went with him, as Sent Leger was to drop him at the Reform.

 

Letter from Roger Melton to Rupert Sent Leger, endorsed “D. re Rupert

Sent Leger. To be given to him by Edward Bingham Trent if and as

soon as he has declared (formally or informally) his intention of

accepting the conditions named in Letter B., forming Clause 10 in my

Will. R. M., 1/1/‘07.

 

“Mem.—Copy (sealed) left in custody of E. B. Trent, to be opened if

necessary, as directed.”

June 11, 1906.

 

MY DEAR NEPHEW,

 

When (if ever) you receive this you will know that (with the

exception of some definite bequests) I have left to you, under

certain conditions, the entire bulk of my fortune—a fortune so great

that by its aid as a help, a man of courage and ability may carve out

for himself a name and place in history. The specific conditions

contained in Clause 10 of my Will have to be observed, for such I

deem to be of service to your own fortune; but herein I give my

advice, which you are at liberty to follow or not as you will, and my

wishes, which I shall try to explain fully and clearly, so that you

may be in possession of my views in case you should desire to carry

them out, or, at least, to so endeavour that the results I hope for

may be ultimately achieved. First let me explain—for your

understanding and your guidance—that the power, or perhaps it had

better be called the pressure, behind the accumulation of my fortune

has been ambition. In obedience to its compulsion, I toiled early

and late until I had so arranged matters that, subject to broad

supervision, my ideas could be carried out by men whom I had selected

and tested, and not found wanting. This was for years to the

satisfaction, and ultimately to the accumulation by these men of

fortune commensurate in some measure to their own worth and their

importance to my designs. Thus I had accumulated, whilst still a

young man, a considerable fortune. This I have for over forty years

used sparingly as regards my personal needs, daringly with regard to

speculative investments. With the latter I took such very great

care, studying the conditions surrounding them so thoroughly, that

even now my schedule of bad debts or unsuccessful investments is

almost a blank. Perhaps by such means things flourished with me, and

wealth piled in so fast that at times I could hardly use it to

advantage. This was all done as the forerunner of ambition, but I

was over fifty years of age when the horizon of ambition itself

opened up to me. I speak thus freely, my dear Rupert, as when you

read it I shall have passed away, and not ambition nor the fear of

misunderstanding, nor even of scorn can touch me. My ventures in

commerce and finance covered not only the Far East, but every foot of

the way to it, so that the Mediterranean and all its opening seas

were familiar to me. In my journeyings up and down the Adriatic I

was always struck by the great beauty and seeming richness—native

richness—of the Land of the Blue Mountains. At last Chance took me

into that delectable region. When the “Balkan Struggle” of ‘90 was

on, one of the great Voivodes came to me in secret to arrange a large

loan for national purposes. It was known in financial circles of

both Europe and Asia that I took an active part in the haute

politique of national treasuries, and the Voivode Vissarion came to

me as to one able and willing to carry out his wishes. After

confidential pour-parlers, he explained to me that his nation was in

the throes of a great crisis. As you perhaps know, the gallant

little Nation in the Land of the Blue Mountains has had a strange

history. For more than a thousand years—ever since its settlement

after the disaster of Rossoro—it had maintained its national

independence under several forms of Government. At first it had a

King whose successors became so despotic that they were dethroned.

Then it was governed by its Voivodes, with the combining influence of

a Vladika somewhat similar in power and function to the Prince-Bishops of Montenegro; afterwards by a Prince; or, as at present, by

an irregular elective Council, influenced in a modified form by the

Vladika, who was then supposed to exercise a purely spiritual

function. Such a Council in a small, poor nation did not have

sufficient funds for armaments, which were not immediately and

imperatively necessary; and therefore the Voivode Vissarion, who had

vast estates in his own possession, and who was the present

representative a family which of old had been leaders in the land,

found it a duty to do on his own account that which the State could

not do. For security as to the loan which he wished to get, and

which was indeed a vast one, he offered to sell me his whole estate

if I would secure to him a right to repurchase it within a given time

(a time which I may say has some time ago expired). He made it a

condition that the sale and agreement should remain a strict secret

between us, as a widespread knowledge that his estate had changed

hands would in all probability result