MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 115 



we did, and I recollect I was almost as thirsty as I should 

 have been under the other conditions. That jug of cider 

 which your father produced when we got back kept up the 

 analogy of the kind treatment by the rescuing crew. I felt 

 quite ready to subscribe to the gold watch for the captain, 

 which is the proper thing, I believe. Strangers or no 

 strangers we have got to row in the same boat which your 

 good uncle built from some inscrutable design of his own." 



" Mr. Morgan, I firmly believe there must be another Will." 



" I only wish there were, and that we could find it ; but 

 Bailey and I searched high and low. What is your reason 

 for thinking that one exists, Miss Badsworth ? " 



" The more I look at Uncle Hugo's picture, the more like 

 he seems to be to my father. Dad is just the person who 

 would play Aunt Lavinia a trick, and he didn't know her 

 as well as Uncle Hugo did. Even after my short acquaint- 

 ance with auntie I can see that most of her schemes are 

 theoretical. Instead of being strong-minded she is easily 

 influenced, and so good-natured that she can be readily 

 imposed upon by other people with views, who have every- 

 thing to gain and nothing to risk. But then dad would 

 never have done anything without guarding against a dis- 

 astrous result, and I cannot imagine Uncle Hugo not doing 

 so either." 



" I confess I have been sorely puzzled," Jack said, leaning 

 back against the tree so as to have a good view of his 

 companion's face, " but, as a matter of fact, there is the Will 

 and no other, and the worst of it is the requirements must 

 be carried out. I am dreadfully sorry you should be called 

 upon to do what falls to your lot, but Miss Badsworth spoke 

 the truth when she said she was utterly incapable of doing 

 it." 



" Poor auntie ! She gets on first-rate with the humans, 

 but she is terribly afraid of the hounds, but I was and am 

 far more afraid of Joe Summers." 



" I gather from that you have interviewed him ? " 



" Yes." 



8 * 



