She accepted them all; and measures were privately taken to have
her well looked after in the place of her retreat. What life she led
there, and whether she performed all the conditions imposed on her, I
cannot say. I can only tell you that she never, to my knowledge, came
to England; that she never annoyed Mr. Vanstone; and that the annual
allowance was paid her, through a local agent in America, to the day of
her death. All that she wanted in marrying him was money; and money she
got.
"In the meantime, Andrew had left the regiment. Nothing would induce him
to face his brother-officers after what had happened. He sold out and
returned to England. The first intelligence which reached him on his
return was the intelligence of his father's death. He came to my office
in London, before going home, and there learned from my lips how the
family quarrel had ended.
"The will which Mr. Vanstone the elder had destroyed in my presence had
not been, so far as I know, replaced by another. When I was sent for, in
the usual course, on his death, I fully expected that the law would be
left to make the customary division among his widow and his children.
To my surprise, a will appeared among his papers, correctly drawn and
executed, and dated about a week after the period when the first will
had been destroyed.
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