"I beg you to consider this large legacy as intended, under certain
conditions, to be given by you to your nephew George. If your nephew is
married at the time of my death, and if his wife is living, I request
you to put him at once in possession of your legacy; accompanying it by
the expression of my desire (which I am sure he will consider a sacred
and binding obligation on him) that he will settle the money on his
wife--and on his children, if he has any. If, on the other hand, he is
unmarried at the time of my death, or if he is a widower--in either of
those cases, I make it a condition of his receiving the legacy, that he
shall be married within the period of--"
Mrs. Lecount laid down the Draft letter from which she had been
dictating thus far, and informed Noel Vanstone by a sign that his pen
might rest.
"We have come to the question of time, sir," she observed. "How long
will you give your cousin to marry, if he is single, or a widower, at
the time of your death?"
"Shall I give him a year?" inquired Noel Vanstone.
"If we had nothing to consider but the interests of Propriety," said
Mrs. Lecount, "I should say a year too, sir--especially if Mr.
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