MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 59 



" I daresay not, but this may make all the difference ; 

 women like to be able to spread themselves." 



Jack had a vision of a girl with curly brown hair standing 

 cap in hand over a dead fox with a pack of harriers baying 

 around her ; he saw white arms, a lavender cotton frock, 

 and a pair of merry brown eyes ; he heard a soft musical 

 voice describing a separator, and his anger was kindled. 



" I shouldn't have thought Miss Lavinia Badsworth was 

 a fool," he said. " Excuse me, I have a great deal to do." 



'* I wonder what the deuce he meant," Bickersdyke mut- 

 tered as the door closed ; then he filled up again and fell 

 asleep. 



Half-way across the hall Jack Morgan stopped and ejacu- 

 lated "Great Scott!" The late Squire's business room 

 was close at hand, he entered, unlocked a drawer, and 

 extracted a copy of the Will. 



For twenty minutes he studied the codicil before he re- 

 folded the paper and locked it away. 



" The law is queer," he said to himself. " It's an awk- 

 ward place undoubtedly, and one doesn't know what the 

 landing is like, but it seems to me the only way out." 



The all-absorbing topic of what Jack Morgan called '* a 

 way out" did much to dispel the depressing influence of 

 "the empty chair" that evening. To Charles Badsworth 

 and Victor Bickersdyke that chair meant nothing ; only 

 Lavinia Badsworth and Jack Morgan missed the familiar 

 face and cheery voice. 



Bickersdyke had been with difficulty roused by the butler 

 in time for dinner ; during that meal he had preserved an 

 air of semi-drunken gravity which might have been amusing 

 under other circumstances. Subsequently he had disap- 

 peared, and left the discussion of affairs to a council of three. 



Face to face with the difficulties which beset her, and 

 contained practical rather than theoretical matters, Miss 

 Badsworth was weighed in the balance and found wanting. 



" What is to be done, Charles?" she asked for at least 

 the fifth time. 



