If it were not mockery--if it were true, clear, incontestable--this immense fortune was at my disposal to do as I pleased with. Not to spend upon myself; to spend upon others; to sow and reap the crop. Golden Grain!
But before it grew to fulness and ripeness, before it waved in perfect comeliness in the eyes of God and man, to watch the tender green leaves springing from the beneficent earth, smiling in the face of the bright sun, with nature's health-giving tears glistening upon them--to watch them gather sufficient strength to resist the attacks of wind and storm and adverse circumstances, each Blade of Grass a thing of beauty---- Ah, Golden Grain! Golden Grain indeed!
I could not sleep on that night I rose many times, and paced the room, praying for sunrise. And then, when the business of the day had fairly commenced, I was in the office of Mr. Fairhaven's lawyers. The principal member of the firm received me. He eyed me with curiosity through his golden spectacles.
'I expected you would call,' he observed, as he motioned me to a seat.
'Are you acquainted,' I asked, 'with the contents of the packet you sent to me yesterday?'
'It came to me sealed; my instructions were to forward it.'
I placed it in his hands, and he read it, slowly and attentively.
'I was in doubt,' he said, as he handed it back to me, 'whether you were a relative of the late Mr. Fairhaven.'
'I see. It is all the more remarkable because of that.'
'The will,' I said, and paused. He took up my words.
'----Is in exact accordance with the terms of the letter.'
He opened his safe, and produced the will. He referred to the date of the letter.
'I received my instructions,' he said, 'from the late Mr. Fairhaven on the morning following the day on which he wrote this communication.'
'I should have wished to attend his funeral,' I said, 'if I had but known! Even without this, it would have been my earnest desire. I owe much to him.'
'I received no instructions that have not complied with.'
'You saw my dear friend before his death?'
'Frequently. Two days before his death, indeed. You are aware that he died rather suddenly.'
'I was not aware. I am glad to know that he did not suffer long.'
'Up to the last his intellect was remarkably clear.' He said this with a half smile.