The Argosy — page 251: what you’re looking at

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

232 Lady Postlethwatte’s Will. diamond rings on her plump little mittened fingers, and a satin gown, in the lap of which rested a religious newspaper and a tortoiseshell cat, who opened one sleepy eye as I softly approached over the thick Turkey carpet. ‘The next minute puss’s mistress had sprung to her feet bolt upright, and wide awake, and catching the cat deftly with one hand gave mine a cordial shake with the other. ‘Mr. Philip Austen! No mistake about that!” she exclaimed. ‘‘ Eh, but you're like your good father! So you caught me napping. I’ve done a long morning’s work ; the hardest in the house I some- times think; and I’m not so young as Iwas. Put down that hat and take your coat off. ‘That’s better. Now you'll just have a glass of wine and a piece of cake after your journey.” The little maid came in answer to the bell, but I strenuously pro- tested that I could eat nothing, that my time was limited, that I never touched wine in the morning. Lady Postlethwaite looked as honestly disconcerted as if I had been guilty of some breach of eti- quette, but beckoned the maid and gave her a bunch of keys and some lengthy and minute whispered directions which I feared referred to luncheon. I delivered all my father’s explanations and apologies. An old gentleman crippled with gout! And that’s what hand- some Phil Austen has come to: the neatest dancer and the finest figure of a young fellow that you could see, once upon a time. . A noble pair they made—he and Miss Anne Hooper. Eh, lad, lad! but it’s a sad thing to grow old; or it would be, if it weren’t for you young ones being left to us!” She looked at me with such kindly eyes that I felt ashamed of my inapatience. “Did your father send me nothing by you ?” she asked. I gave her a sealed envelope which she opened. It only contained a small key. “This is a fancy of mine. Look here,” she said. It fitted the lock of a central compartment in a large bookcase that stood in the room. A tall, narrow space between the shelves of books, evidently intended to contain maps or engravings. It was only a few inches in width and the glazed panel of its door looked hardly wider than the slit of a letter box. It was empty save for a long blue envelope tied with fancy ribbon and sealed with a large red seal, She took this out. ‘This is my will, you see. I can look in through the glass at it every day if I like and know that it’s safe, but 1 am secured from tampering with it except with the knowledge and consent of your father. That is Sir Josiah’s old seal. You see, there is only my name and the date outside the envelope, though no one could possibly read anything through that glass if they tried.” She broke the seal and opened out the enclosed document, looking wistfully at meas she didso. ‘To think of you—the baby that I remember Gomiciooks.co m