The Argosy — page 263: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

246 Court Netherleigh. “Ves. Uncle Francis saw what was in my mind. ‘Were the past to come over again,’ he observed, ‘I might be less harsh with Catherine, less intolerant to him.’ ‘But Mr. Grubb Zs in trade, is a merchant, just as he was then,’ I returned, wonderingly. ‘ Margery,’ said Uncle Francis, ‘when our days in this world draw to their close, and we stand on the threshold of another, ideas change. The spirit changes, and the aspect of things changes with it. We see then that the inordinate value we have set on worldly distinctions may have been, to say the least of it, exaggerated; while the prin- ciples of right, of justice, become more weighty. What little right or claim there is in the matter, with regard to a successor to Court Netherleigh, lay with Catherine Grant. I have had to substitute you, Margery, for her; but it is zzg¢t that her son should come in after you. JI also find that Mr. Grubb’s business is of a high standing, altogether different from the ideas we formed of it.” “ How did any right lie with Catherine Grant—more than with you or Elizabeth Cleveland?” asked the Rector. © ‘In this way: Catherine Grant was the most nearly related to Sir Francis. Her mother was his first cousin, whereas my mother and Betsy’s mother were but his second cousins. Catherine also was the eldest of the three, by about a year. So you perceive he spoke with reason—that the right of succession, if any right existed, lay with her.” Mr. Cleveland nodded. | ““¢ After you come into possession here, Margery, do not lose time in making your will,’ continued Uncle Francis. ‘To-morrow I will write down a few particulars to guide you, which you can, at the proper time, show to Pencot. The lad’s name, Francis Grubb, will be put in as your successor, and when he comes here, in later years, he must change it to Francis Netherleigh.’ ‘ But,’ I rejoined to this, the thought striking me, ‘ suppose the little boy should grow up a bad man, a man of evil repute, what then?’ ‘Then,’ he said, striking his hand emphatically upon the elbow of his chair, ‘I charge you to destroy your first will and make a fresh one. Look out in the world for yourself, and choose a worthy successor—not any one of the Acorns, mind, I have interdicted that; some gentleman of fair and estimable character, who will do his duty earnestly to God and to his neighbour, and who will take my name. Vof the baronetcy. Unless he were of blood relationship to me, though ever so remote, no plea would exist for petitioning for that. But I think better things of this little boy in question,’ he added quickly; ‘instinct whispers that he will be found worthy.’ As he 2s,” emphatically concluded Miss Upton. ‘And I intend him to be, and hope he will be, a second Sir Francis Netherleigh. I have put things in train for it. “Tt is a rather singular coincidence, not unlike a link in a chain,” she went on, dreamily, “that the present Prime Minister should be an old habitué of Court Netherleigh ; many a week in his boyhood did COMIC DOO KS, EO)