Place yourself in that strong position,
and it is no longer you who are at your wife's mercy, but your wife who
is at yours. Assert your own power, sir, with the law to help you, and
crush this woman into submission to any terms for the future that you
please to impose."
He eagerly took up the pen. "Yes," he said, with a vindictive
self-importance, "any terms I please to impose." He suddenly checked
himself and his face became dejected and perplexed. "How can I do it
now?" he asked, throwing down the pen as quickly as he had taken it up.
"Do what, sir?" inquired Mrs. Lecount.
"How can I make my will, with Mr. Loscombe away in London, and no lawyer
here to help me?"
Mrs. Lecount gently tapped the papers before her on the table with her
forefinger.
"All the help you need, sir, is waiting for you here," she said. "I
considered this matter carefully before I came to you; and I provided
myself with the confidential assistance of a friend to guide me through
those difficulties which I could not penetrate for myself. The friend
to whom I refer is a gentleman of Swiss extraction, but born and bred
in England. He is not a lawyer by profession--but he has had his own
sufficient experience of the law, nevertheless; and he has supplied
me, not only with a model by which you may make your will, but with the
written sketch of a letter which it is as important for us to have, as
the model of the will itself.
Pages:
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922