of the will."

"What is it?" he asked, with roused curiosity.

"We will take it in its turn, sir," answered Mrs. Lecount. "Its turn has
not come yet. The will, if you please, first. I will dictate from the
model in my possession and you will write."

Noel Vanstone looked at the draft for the Will and the draft for the
Letter with suspicious curiosity.

"I think I ought to see the papers myself, before you dictate," he said.
"It would be more satisfactory to my own mind, Lecount."

"By all means, sir," rejoined Mrs. Lecount, handing him the papers
immediately.

He read the draft for the Will first, pausing and knitting his brows
distrustfully, wherever he found blank spaces left in the manuscript
to be filled in with the names of persons and the enumeration of sums
bequeathed to them. Two or three minutes of reading brought him to the
end of the paper. He gave it back to Mrs. Lecount without making any
objection to it.

The draft for the Letter was a much longer document. He obstinately read
it through to the end, with an expression of perplexity and discontent
which showed that it was utterly unintelligible to him. "I must have
this explained," he said, with a touch of his old self-importance,
"before I take any steps in the matter."

"It shall be explained, sir, as we go on," said Mrs. Lecount.

"Every word of it?"

"Every word of it, Mr. Noel, when its turn comes. You have no objection
to the will? To the will, then, as I said before, let us devote
ourselves first. You have seen for yourself that it is short enough and
simple enough for a child to understand it. But if any doubts remain on
your mind, by all means compose those doubts by showing your will to
a lawyer by profession. In the meantime, let me not be considered
intrusive if I remind you that we are all mortal, and that the lost
opportunity can never be recalled. While your time is your own, sir, and
while your enemies are unsuspicious of you, make your will!"

She opened a sheet of note-paper and smoothed it out before him; she
dipped the pen in ink, and placed it in his hands. He took it from
her without speaking--he was, to all appearance, suffering under some
temporary uneasiness of mind. But the main point was gained. There he
sat, with the paper before him, and the pen in his hand; ready at last,
in right earnest, to make his will.

"The first question for you to decide, sir," said Mrs. Lecount, after a
preliminary glance at her Draft,