All Mrs. Lecount's patience and all Mrs. Lecount's
persuasion were required to induce him to write t he admiral's address
for the second time. She only succeeded by bringing the blank envelope
to him upon the paper-case, and putting it coaxingly on his lap. He
grumbled, he even swore, but he directed the envelope at last, in these
terms: "To Admiral Bartram, St. Crux-in-the-Marsh. Favored by Mrs.
Lecount." With that final act of compliance his docility came to an end.
He refused, in the fiercest terms, to seal the envelope. There was no
need to press this proceeding on him. His seal lay ready on the table,
and it mattered nothing whether he used it, or whether a person in his
confidence used it for him. Mrs. Lecount sealed the envelope, with its
two important inclosures placed safely inside.
She opened her traveling-bag for the last time, and pausing for a moment
before she put the sealed packet away, looked at it with a triumph
too deep for words. She smiled as she dropped it into the bag. Not the
shadow of a suspicion that the Will might contain superfluous phrases
and expressions which no practical lawyer would have used; not the
vestige of a doubt whether the Letter was quite as complete a document
as a practical lawyer might have made it, troubled her mind.
Pages:
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957