" Quite indefensible, I admit--an act of tyranny, and
nothing less. Like other tyrants, I carried my point. Mr. Smalley chose
his alternative, without a moment's hesitation.
He smiled resignedly, and gave up the name of his client:
Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite.
That was enough for me--I wanted to know no more.
Having reached this point in my narrative, it now becomes necessary
to place the reader of these lines--so far as Lady Verinder's Will is
concerned--on a footing of perfect equality, in respect of information,
with myself.
Let me state, then, in the fewest possible words, that Rachel Verinder
had nothing but a life-interest in the property. Her mother's excellent
sense, and my long experience, had combined to relieve her of all
responsibility, and to guard her from all danger of becoming the victim
in the future of some needy and unscrupulous man. Neither she, nor her
husband (if she married), could raise sixpence, either on the property
in land, or on the property in money. They would have the houses in
London and in Yorkshire to live in, and they would have the handsome
income--and that was all.
When I came to think over what I had discovered, I was sorely perplexed
what to do next.
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