aughter of Mr. Arthur Fairlie. If she
married, with a proper settlement--or, in other words, with the
settlement I meant to make for her--the income from the estate (a good
three thousand a year) would, during her lifetime, be at her own
disposal. If she died before her husband, he would naturally expect to
be left in the enjoyment of the income, for HIS lifetime. If she had a
son, that son would be the heir, to the exclusion of her cousin
Magdalen. Thus, Sir Percival's prospects in marrying Miss Fairlie (so
far as his wife's expectations from real property were concerned)
promised him these two advantages, on Mr. Frederick Fairlie's death:
First, the use of three thousand a year (by his wife's permission,
while she lived, and in his own right, on her death, if he survived
her); and, secondly, the inheritance of Limmeridge for his son, if he
had one.

So much for the landed property, and for the disposal of the income
from it, on the occasion of Miss Fairlie's marriage. Thus far, no
difficulty or difference of opinion on the lady's settlement was at all
likely to arise between Sir Percival's lawyer and myself.

The personal estate, or, in other words, the money to which Miss
Fairlie would become entitled on reaching the age of twenty-one years,
is the next point to consider.

This part of her inheritance was, in itself, a comfortable little
fortune. It was derived under her father's will, and it amounted to
the sum of twenty thousand pounds. Besides this, she had a
life-interest in ten thousand pounds more, which latter amount was to
go, on her decease, to her aunt Eleanor, her father's only sister. It
will greatly assist in setting the family affairs before the reader in
the clearest possible light, if I stop here for a moment, to explain
why the aunt had been kept waiting for her legacy until the death of
the niece.

Mr. Philip Fairlie had lived on excellent terms with his sister
Eleanor, as long as she remained a single woman. But when her marriage
took place, somewhat late in life, and when that marriage united her to
an Italian gentleman named Fosco, or, rather, to an Italian
nobleman--seeing that he rejoiced in the title of Count--Mr. Fairlie
disapproved of her conduct so strongly that he ceased to hold any
communication with her, and even went the length of striking her name
out of his will. The other members of the family all thought this
serious manifestation of resentment at his sister's marriag