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Page 8
"I'd rather dance a jig with mirth than a minuet with melancholy,"
laughed the girl; "and yet it would take a great deal to make me
miserable if I were with you, and you loved me, my dear aunt. Still,
I own I like to be rich, so as to have everything I want, and give
everybody what they want; and, aunt Sarah, you know very well I cannot
finish this rose without the pale floss silk, and my maid forgot both
that and to order the seed pearl."
Mabel's complaint was interrupted by the entrance of the servant, who
told Miss Bond that Mr. Cramp, her attorney, wished to see her.
"Show him in," said Miss Bond.
"He wishes to see you alone, ma'am."
"His wife is going to die, and he will want you to marry him!"
exclaimed Mabel, heedless of the servant's presence. "Do, dear aunt,
and let me be bride's-maid."
Sarah Bond changed colour; and then, while stooping to kiss her
wayward niece, she called her "a foolish child."
CHAPTER III.
Mr. Cramp, whom we introduced at the conclusion of the last chapter,
as Miss Bond's man of business, was a plain little man, skilled in the
turnings and windings of the law, beside which he could not be said to
know distinctly any other code of morals.
On this particular morning, after a few common-place observations,
Mr. Cramp made a somewhat strange inquiry. "Had Miss Bond heard that
Mr. Alfred Bond had come over to England?" No; she had not heard
it. It was, Mr. Cramp _insinuated_ (for he never _said_ anything
directly)--it was rather an awkward circumstance Mr. Alfred Bond's
coming to England. He thought--he believed--he _hoped_ it would make
no difference to Miss Bond.
Miss Bond opened her wide eyes still more widely. She knew that
Mr. Alfred Bond was the heir-at-law to the property bequeathed her
father; but what of that? he had never, that she heard of, dreamed of
disputing the will; and she had never felt one pang of insecurity as
to the possessions which had of late grown so deeply into her heart.
At this unexpected intimation she felt the blood rush through her
veins in a wild untameable manner. In all her trials--and they had
been many--in all her illnesses--not a few--she had never fainted,
never fallen into that symptom of weak-mindedness, a fit of hysterics;
but now she sat without power of speech, looking at Mr. Cramp's round
face.
"My dear Miss Bond, you are not ill, I hope?" exclaimed Mr. Cramp. "I
pray you to bear up; what has been said is doubtless wrong--must be
wrong; a threat of the opposite party--an undefined threat, which
we must prepare ourselves to meet in a lawyer-like way. Hope for the
best, and prepare"--
"For what, sir?" inquired Miss Bond, gaspingly.
"For any--anything--that is my plan. Unfortunately, the only way to
deal with the world, so as to meet it on equal terms, is to think
every man a rogue. It is a deeply painful view to take of human
nature, and it agonizes me to do so. Let me, however, entreat you to
bear up"--
"Against what, sir?" said Sarah Bond abruptly, and almost fiercely,
for now Mr. Cramp's face was reduced to its original size, and she
had collected her ideas. "There are few things I could _not_ bear up
against, but I must know what I have to sustain."
"Your father's will, my dear lady, is safe; the document, leaving
everything to you, that is safe, and all other documents are safe
enough except Cornelius Bond Hobart's will--a will bequeathing the
property to your uncle. _Where_ is that will to be found? for if
Alfred Bond proceeds, the veritable document must be produced."
"Why, so it can be, I suppose," said Sarah Bond, relapsing in some
degree into agitation; "it was produced when my father inherited the
property, as you know."
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