When the last rites were over, it was necessary that the will should be read. If there was any one of the party apprehensive of disappointment, that person must have been Lord Trimmerstone. It certainly must have been mortifying to him to have witnessed the obstructions to his prospects of inheritance; first, in the discovery of his relative’s daughter and family, and next in the patronage and favoritism of that man whom he knew only as a person professionally employed against himself. It was mortifying also to him to think that this favorite should have become such from the very circumstance which his lordship had most reason to look back upon with shame and regret. It is, indeed, much to his lordship’s credit, that notwithstanding all these things he never manifested any symptoms of ill-humor or hostility towards the parties concerned, and never had recourse to any arts or contrivances whatever to flatter the old gentleman into good-humor. All this, however meritorious as it may sound in description, did not spring from any magnanimity on the part of Lord Trimmerstone, nor was it accompanied with any moral effort or reflective thought; it arose purely from a natural indolence of mind, and from a feeling that Mr. Martindale, who had manifested some zeal in procuring a higher title for his dependent relative, would have a natural desire to do what he could for the aggrandisement of the family that bore his own name.
The will was read. It commenced in the usual form. It gave various legacies to servants and humble friends, which need not be specified; it then went on to the distribution of larger and more important bequests; it gave the estate at Trimmerstone, and two other estates in the adjoining county, together with fifty thousand pounds, to the Earl of Trimmerstone. It assigned to Signora Rivolta an estate of two thousand a year; to Clara, a legacy of five thousand pounds; to his worthy and confidential solicitor, Mr. Price of Brigland, the sum of twenty thousand pounds; and to Horatio Markham, the residue: appointing the two last-named as his executors.
With this arrangement the Earl of Trimmerstone was perfectly satisfied; and had such a bequest come into his possession a few years before, he might have been delighted with it: but the time for his feeling strong emotions was past; his spirit was broken, and life had with him ceased to be holiday-time. Of the other legatees, Signora Rivolta, considering the circumstances of her birth, and recollecting the fears and prospects with which she had landed in England, was also perfectly satisfied. Markham, not knowing the extent of his legacy, but almost sorry that his name should have appeared at all in the document, felt embarrassed, and really did most heartily wish that what Sir Andrew Featherstone had told him might prove untrue: for the barrister, who would have delighted in opulence, as the result of professional diligence and skill, was not pleased at owing his wealth to a capricious stranger; and as it was his determination not to avail himself of this bequest, should it prove unreasonably large, he was greatly disturbed at the idea that by giving or offering it to those whom he thought the right owners, he should seem to be playing a part of ostentatious heroism.