The first words she spoke were addressed to Mr. Pendril.
"May I ask one more favor," she said, "before you enter on your business
arrangements?"
Mr. Pendril replied ceremoniously by a gesture of assent. Magdalen's
resolution to possess herself of the Instructions did not appear to have
produced a favorable impression on the lawyer's mind.
"You mentioned what you were so kind as to do, in our interests, when
you first wrote to Mr. Michael Vanstone," she continued. "You said you
had told him all the circumstances. I want--if you will allow me--to
be made quite sure of what he really knew about us--when he sent these
orders to his lawyer. Did he know that my father had made a will, and
that he had left our fortunes to my sister and myself?"
"He did know it," said Mr. Pendril.
"Did you tell him how it happened that we are left in this helpless
position?"
"I told him that your father was entirely unaware, when he married, of
the necessity for making another will."
"And that another will would have been made, after he saw Mr. Clare, but
for the dreadful misfortune of his death?"
"He knew that also."
"Did he know that my father's untiring goodness and kindness to both of
us--"
Her voice faltered for the first time: she sighed, and put her hand
to her head wearily.
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