instantly my movement of repulsion. "It does suggest that very thing," she said, with a little shiver. "Come over here by the chess table. Father and I were accustomed to play every night; he used to wonder what sort of game you would give him when you came on that long expected visit." [Pg 47] "Sorry, but I'm not a chess player. However, that doesn't matter now, and I've brought you here to say that I don't propose to take advantage of that will. Your father couldn't have meant it; it's your property and you should have it. The whole thing is absurd; he couldn't have realized what he was doing." "You met my father at least for that one time," she retorted. "Did he give you any reason to think that he didn't know his own mind, or that the time would ever come when he wouldn't know it?" I was silent. Certainly, infirmity of purpose was the very last thing to be predicated of the more than ordinarily forceful personality of the late Francis Graeme. But I am[Pg 48] somewhat stubborn myself. "I don't care," I persisted. "'Hildebrand Hundred' isn't mine, and I won't take it." [Pg 48] Miss Graeme looked at me. "You know the will refers to me as only his daughter by adoption," she said, "and I could have no right to inherit the 'Hundred.' That was always clearly understood between us. He did leave me all that he could call his own." "I don't see how that matters. The estate belonged legally to Mr. Graeme." "Merely because Mr. Richard Hildebrand chose to ignore the claims of the heir-at-law. And a blood relation at that." "Meaning Mr. John Thaneford, I suppose." Miss Graeme looked surprised. "Has Mr. Eldon been acquainting you with the particulars of the family history?" she asked. "I first learned of the actual facts from Mr. John Thaneford himself." Now there was something more than surprise in my Cousin Betty's demeanor; she seemed agitated, even uneasy. "Apparently," I went on, "both the Thanefords resent what they consider to be an alienation of the estate. I don't believe they will feel the original wrong has been righted by my becoming the heir, even though I happen to be the only titular Hildebrand among us all."[Pg 49] [Pg 49]
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