. Bitterworth; and,
though I refused credence to it when he spoke, it has since been gaining
upon my mind. He thinks my uncle must have repented of the codicil after
it was made, and himself destroyed it. I should give full belief to this
were it not that at the very last he spoke to me as the successor to
Verner's Pride."

"Why did he will it from you at all?" asked Lady Verner.

"I know not. I have told you how estranged his manner has been to me for
the last year or two; but wherefore, or what I had done to displease
him, I cannot think or imagine."

"He had no right to will away the estate from you," vehemently rejoined
Lady Verner. "Was it not enough that he usurped your father's
birth-right, as Jacob usurped Esau's, keeping you out of it for years
and years, but he must now deprive you of it for ever? Had you been
dead--had there been any urgent reason why you should not succeed--Jan
should have come in. Jan is the lawful heir, failing you. Mark me,
Lionel, it will bring no good to Frederick Massingbird. Rights,
violently diverted out of their course, can bring only wrong and
confusion."

"It would be scarcely fair were it to bring him ill," spoke Lionel, in
his strict justice. "Frederick has had nothing to do with my uncle's
bequeathing the estate to him."

"Nonsense, Lionel! you cannot make me believe that no cajolery has been
at work from some quarter or other," peevishly answered Lady Verner.
"Tell the facts to an impartial person--a stranger. They were always
about him--his wife and those Massingbirds--and at the last moment it is
discovered that he has left all to them, and disinherited you."

"Mother, you are mistaken. What my uncle has done, he has done of his
own will alone, unbiassed by others; nay, unknown to others. He
distinctly stated this to Matiss, when the change was made. No, although
I am a sufferer, and they benefit, I cannot throw a shade of the wrong
upon Mrs. Verner and the Massingbirds."

"I will tell you what I cannot do--and that is to accept your view of
the disappearance of the codicil," said Lady Verner. "It does not stand
to reason that your uncle would cause a codicil to be made, with all the
haste and parade you speak of, only to destroy it afterwards. Depend
upon it, you are wrong. He never took it."

"It does appear unlikely," acquiesced Lionel, after some moments of
deliberation. "It was not likely, either, that he would destroy it in
secret; he would have done it openl