The mean, paltry scoundrel! Perhaps her
ladyship might have had the will set aside, but she would not go to law
about it. Thank Heaven! the twenty years are nearly at an end. Deepley
Walls has been a haunted house ever since that midnight when Sir John
was borne in on the shoulders of six strong men. And now tell me whether
her ladyship is not a woman to be pitied."
* * * * *
At a quarter before eleven next morning, Mr. Solomon Madgin, Lady
Chillington's agent and general man-of-business, arrived by appointment
at Deepley Walls. Mr. Madgin was indispensable to her ladyship, who had
a considerable quantity of house property in and around Eastbury,
consisting chiefly of small tenements, the rents of which had to be
collected weekly. Then Mr. Madgin was bailiff for the Deepley Walls
estate, in connection with which were several small farms or "holdings"
which required to be well looked after in many ways. Besides all this,
her ladyship, having a few spare thousands, had taken of late years to
dabbling in scrip and shares in a small way, and under the skilful
pilotage of Mr. Madgin had hitherto contrived to steer clear of those
rocks and shoals of speculation on which so many gallant argosies are
wrecked. In short, everything except the law-business of the estate
filtered through Mr. Madgin's hands, and as he did his work cheaply and
well, and put up with her ladyship's ill-temper without a murmur, the
mistress of Deepley Walls could hardly have found anyone who would have
suited her better.
Pages:
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51