t a declaration as to the will should be made before
a certain functionary at Carmarthen, and as the papers necessary
for the occasion had been prepared in the lawyer's office, he was
summoned into Carmarthen for the purpose. Immediately after that he
would be put into full possession of the property. Mr Apjohn also
informed him that the deed had been prepared for charging the estate
with four thousand pounds on behalf of his Cousin Isabel. By this he
would bind himself to pay her two hundred a year for the next two
years, and at the end of that period to hand over to her the entire
sum. Here was an excuse provided for him to leave the house and
travel as far as Carmarthen. There were the horses and the carriage
with which his uncle had been accustomed to be taken about the
estate, and there was still the old coachman, who had been in the
service for the last twenty years. So he gave his orders, and
directed that the carriage should be ready soon after two, in order
that he might keep the appointment made by the lawyer at three. The
order was sent out to the stable through the butler, and as he gave
it he felt how unable he was to assume the natural tone of a master
to his servants.

"The carriage, sir!" said the butler, as though surprised. Then the
owner of Llanfeare found himself compelled to explain to his own man
that it was necessary that he should see the lawyer in Carmarthen.

Should he or should he not take the book with him as he went? It
was a large volume, and could not well be concealed in his pocket.
He might no doubt take a book,--any book,--with him for his own
recreation in the carriage; but were he to do so, the special book
which he had selected would be marked to the eyes of the servants. It
required but little thought to tell him that the book must certainly
be left in its place. He could have taken the will and kept it safe,
and certainly unseen, in the pocket of his coat. But then, to take
the will from its hiding-place and to have it on his person, unless
he did so for the purpose of instant and public revelation, would, as
he thought, be in itself a felony. There would be the doing of a deed
in the very act of abstracting the document; and his safety lay in
the abstaining from any deed. What if a fit should come upon him,
or he should fall and hurt himself and the paper be found in his
possession? Then there would at once be the intervention of the
police, and the cell, and the angry voices of