nothing more than a life-interest in it. If she
died single, or died childless, the estate would
revert to her cousin Magdalen, the daughter of Mr.
Arthur Fairlie. If she married, with a proper
settlement — or, in other words, with the settlement
I meant to make for her — the income from
the estate (a good three thousand a year) would,
during her lifetime, be at her own disposal. If
she died before her husband, he would naturally
expect to be left in the enjoyment of the income,
for his lifetime. If she had a son, that son
would be the heir, to the exclusion of her cousin
Magdalen. Thus, Sir Percival's prospects in
marrying Miss Fairlie (so far as his wife's
expectations from real property were concerned)
promised him these two advantages, on Mr.
Frederick Fairlie's death: First, the use of
three thousand a year (by his wife's permission,
while she lived, and, in his own right, on her
death, if he survived her); and, secondly, the
inheritance of Limmeridge for his son, if he had
one.

So much for the landed property, and for the
disposal of the income from it, on the occasion
of Miss Fairlie's marriage. Thus far, no difficulty
or difference of opinion on the lady's settlement
was at all likely to arise between Sir
Percival's lawyer and myself.

The personal estate, or, in other words, the
money to which Miss Fairlie would become
entitled on reaching the age of twenty-one years,
is the next point to consider.

This part of her inheritance was, in itself, a
comfortable little fortune. It was derived under
her father's will, and it amounted to the sum of
twenty thousand pounds. Besides this, she had
a life-interest in ten thousand pounds more;
which latter amount was to go, on her decease,
to her aunt Eleanor, her father's only sister. It
will greatly assist in setting the family affairs
before the reader in the clearest possible light,
if I stop here for a moment, to explain why the
aunt had been kept waiting for her legacy until
the death of the niece.

Mr. Philip Fairlie had lived on excellent terms
with his sister Eleanor, as long as she remained
a single woman. But when her marriage took
place, somewhat late in life, and when that
marriage united her to an Italian gentleman, named
Fosco — or, rather, to an Italian nobleman, seeing
that he rejoiced in the title of Count — Mr.
Fairlie disapproved of her conduct so strongly
that he ceased to hold any communication with
her, and even went the length of striking her
name out of his will. The other members of
the family all thought this serious manifestation
of resentment at his sister's marriage more or
less unreasonable. Count Fosco, though not a
rich man, was not a penniless adventurer either.
He had a small, but sufficient income of his
own; he had lived many years in England;
and he held an excellent position in society.
These recommendations, however, availed nothing
with Mr. Fairlie. In many of his opinions
he was an Englishman of the old school; and
he hated a foreigner, simply and solely because
he was a foreigner. The utmost that he could
be prevailed on to do, in after years, mainly at
Miss Fairlie's intercession, was to restore his
sister's name to its former place in his will, but
to keep her waiting for her legacy by giving the
income of the money to his daughter for life,
and the money itself, if her aunt died before her,
to her cousin Magdalen. Considering the relative
ages of the two ladies, the aunt's chance,
in the ordinary course of nature, of receiving
the ten thousand pounds, was thus rendered
doubtful in the extreme; and Madame Fosco
resented her brother's treatment of her, as
unjustly as usual in such cases, by refusing to
see her niece, and declining to believe that Miss
Fairlie's intercession had ever been exerted to
restore her name to Mr. Fairlie's will.

Such was the history of the ten thousand
pounds. Here again no difficulty could arise
with Sir Percival's legal adviser. The income
would be at the wife's disposal, and the principal
would go to her aunt, or her cousin, on her
death.

All preliminary explanations being now cleared
out of the way, I come, at last, to the real knot
of the case — to the twenty thousand pounds.

This sum was absolutely Miss Fairlie's own,
on her completing her twenty-first year; and
the whole future disposition of it depended, in
the first instance, on the conditions I could
obtain for her in her marriage-settlement. The
other clauses contained in that document were
of a formal kind, and need not be recited here.
But the clause relating to the money is too
important to be passed over. A few lines will
be sufficient to give the necessary abstract
of it.

My stipulation, in regard to the twenty thousand
pounds, was simply this: The whole amount
was to be settled so as to give the income to the
lady for her life; afterwards to Sir Percival for
his life; and the principal to the children of the
marriage. In default of issue, the principal was
to be disposed of as the lady might by her will
direct, for which purpose I reserved to her the
right of making a will. The effect of these
conditions may be thus summed up. If Lady Glyde
died without leaving children, her half-sister,
Miss Halcombe, and any other relatives or
friends whom she might be anxious to benefit,
would, on her husband's death, divide among
them such shares of her money as she desired
them to have. If, on the other hand, she died,
leaving children, then their interest, naturally
and necessarily, superseded all other interests
whatsoever. This was the clause; and no one
who reads it, can fail, I think, to agree with me
that it meted out equal justice to all parties.

We shall see how my proposals were met on
the husband's side.

At the time when Miss Halcombe's letter
reached me, I was even more busily occupied
than usual. But I contrived to make leisure
for the settlement. I had drawn it, and had
sent it for approval to Sir Percival's solicitor,
in less than a week from the time when Miss
Halcombe had informed me of the proposed
marriage.