Man and Wife Wilkie Collins (read 50 shades of grey .TXT) đ
- Author: Wilkie Collins
Book online «Man and Wife Wilkie Collins (read 50 shades of grey .TXT) đ». Author Wilkie Collins
âAnd her marriage violates the provision!â exclaimed Sir Patrick.
âYes. The codicil actually executed is now worthless. And the other codicil remains unsigned until the lawyer can produce Miss Silvester. He has left the house to apply to Geoffrey at Fulham, as the only means at our disposal of finding the lady. Some hours have passedâ âand he has not yet returned.â
âIt is useless to wait for him,â said Sir Patrick. âWhile the lawyer was on his way to Fulham, Lord Holchesterâs son was on his way to Portland Place. This is even more serious than you suppose. Tell me, what under less pressing circumstances I should have no right to ask. Apart from the unexecuted codicil what is Geoffrey Delamaynâs position in the will?â
âHe is not even mentioned in it.â
âHave you got the will?â
Mr. Marchwood unlocked a drawer, and took it out.
Sir Patrick instantly rose from his chair. âNo waiting for the lawyer!â he repeated, vehemently. âThis is a matter of life and death. Lady Holchester bitterly resents her sonâs marriage. She speaks and feels as a friend of Mrs. Glenarm. Do you think Lord Holchester would take the same view if he knew of it?â
âIt depends entirely on the circumstances.â
âSuppose I informed himâ âas I inform you in confidenceâ âthat his son has gravely wronged Miss Silvester? And suppose I followed that up by telling him that his son has made atonement by marrying her?â
âAfter the feeling that he has shown in the matter, I believe he would sign the codicil.â
âThen, for Godâs sake, let me see him!â
âI must speak to the doctor.â
âDo it instantly!â
With the will in his hand, Mr. Marchwood advanced to the bedroom door. It was opened from within before he could get to it. The doctor appeared on the threshold. He held up his hand warningly when Mr. Marchwood attempted to speak to him.
âGo to Lady Holchester,â he said. âItâs all over.â
âDead?â
âDead.â
Sixteenth Scene The Inn XLVIII The PlaceEarly in the present century it was generally reported among the neighbors of one Reuben Limbrick that he was in a fair way to make a comfortable little fortune by dealing in salt.
His place of abode was in Staffordshire, on a morsel of freehold land of his ownâ âappropriately called Salt Patch. Without being absolutely a miser, he lived in the humblest manner, saw very little company; skillfully invested his money; and persisted in remaining a single man.
Toward eighteen hundred and forty he first felt the approach of the chronic malady which ultimately terminated his life. After trying what the medical men of his own locality could do for him, with very poor success, he met by accident with a doctor living in the western suburbs of London, who thoroughly understood his complaint. After some journeying backward and forward to consult this gentleman, he decided on retiring from business, and on taking up his abode within an easy distance of his medical man.
Finding a piece of freehold land to be sold in the neighborhood of Fulham, he bought it, and had a cottage residence built on it, under his own directions. He surrounded the wholeâ âbeing a man singularly jealous of any intrusion on his retirement, or of any chance observation of his ways and habitsâ âwith a high wall, which cost a large sum of money, and which was rightly considered a dismal and hideous object by the neighbors. When the new residence was completed, he called it after the name of the place in Staffordshire where he had made his money, and where he had lived during the happiest period of his life. His relatives, failing to understand that a question of sentiment was involved in this proceeding, appealed to hard facts, and reminded him that there were no salt mines in the neighborhood. Reuben Limbrick answered, âSo much the worse for the neighborhoodââ âand persisted in calling his property, âSalt Patch.â
The cottage was so small that it looked quite lost in the large garden all round it. There was a ground-floor and a floor above itâ âand that was all.
On either side of the passage, on the lower floor, were two rooms. At the right-hand side, on entering by the front-door, there was a kitchen, with its outhouses attached. The room next to the kitchen looked into the garden. In Reuben Limbrickâs time it was called the study and contained a small collection of books and a large store of fishing-tackle. On the left-hand side of the passage there was a drawing-room situated at the back of the house, and communicating with a dining-room in the front. On the upper floor there were five bedroomsâ âtwo on one side of the passage, corresponding in size with the dining-room and the drawing-room below, but not opening into each other; three on the other side of the passage, consisting of one larger room in front, and of two small rooms at the back. All these were solidly and completely furnished. Money had not been spared, and workmanship had not been stinted. It was all substantialâ âand, upstairs and downstairs, it was all ugly.
The situation of Salt Patch was lonely. The lands of
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