s
to open the papers."

But the housekeeper did not seem satisfied with this. Though she
believed that some document had been written, Mr Apjohn had not
been sent for, as had always been done on former similar occasions.
The making of the Squire's will had been a thing always known and
well understood at Llanfeare. Mr Apjohn had been sent for on such
occasions, and had returned after a day or two, accompanied by two
clerks. It was quite understood that the clerks were there to witness
the will. The old butler, who would bring in the sherry and biscuits
after the operation, was well acquainted with all the testamentary
circumstances of the occasions. Nothing of that kind had occurred
now; but old Joseph Cantor, who had been a tenant on the property for
the last thirty years, and his son, Joseph Cantor the younger, had
been called in, and it was supposed that they had performed the duty
of witnessing the document. The housekeeper seemed to think that
they, when interrogated, had declined to give any information on the
subject. She herself had not seen them, but she had seen others of
the tenants, and she was certain, she said, that Llanfeare generally
believed that the old Squire had executed a will during the absence
of his niece.

In answer to all this Isabel simply said that if a new will, which
should turn out to be the real will, had actually been made, it would
be found among her uncle's papers. She knew well the manner in which
those other wills had been tied and deposited in one of the drawers
of her uncle's tables. She had been invited to read them all, and had
understood from a thousand assurances that he had wished that nothing
should be kept secret from her. The key of the very drawer was at
this moment in her possession. There was nothing to hinder her from
searching, should she wish to search. But she never touched the
drawer. The key which locked it she placed in an envelope, and put
it apart under another lock and key. Though she listened, though she
could not but listen, to the old woman's narrative, yet she rebuked
the narrator. "There should be no talking about such things," she
said. "It had been," she said, "her uncle's intention to make his
nephew the owner of Llanfeare, and she believed that he had done so.
It was better that there should be no conversation on the matter
until the will had been read."

During these days she did not go beyond the precincts of the garden,
and was careful not to e