There is another necessity waiting for
you, Mr. Noel, which I have not mentioned yet, but which is no less
urgent in its way than the necessity of the will."
"What is it?" he asked, with roused curiosity.
"We will take it in its turn, sir," answered Mrs. Lecount. "Its turn has
not come yet. The will, if you please, first. I will dictate from the
model in my possession and you will write."
Noel Vanstone looked at the draft for the Will and the draft for the
Letter with suspicious curiosity.
"I think I ought to see the papers myself, before you dictate," he said.
"It would be more satisfactory to my own mind, Lecount."
"By all means, sir," rejoined Mrs. Lecount, handing him the papers
immediately.
He read the draft for the Will first, pausing and knitting his brows
distrustfully, wherever he found blank spaces left in the manuscript
to be filled in with the names of persons and the enumeration of sums
bequeathed to them. Two or three minutes of reading brought him to the
end of the paper. He gave it back to Mrs. Lecount without making any
objection to it.
The draft for the Letter was a much longer document. He obstinately read
it through to the end, with an expression of perplexity and discontent
which showed that it was utterly unintelligible to him.
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