Byass?'
'I will stay, please, father.'
He hesitated, but the thought that rose was even for him too ignoble
to be entertained.
'As you please, my dear. Of course no one must enter your rooms but
Mrs. Byass. I must go now, but I shall look in again to-night.'
'Yes, father.'
She spoke mechanically. He had to lead her from the room, and, on
quitting the house, left her all but unconscious in Bessie's arms.
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE HEIR
'And you mean to say,' cried Clem, when she was in the cab with her
husband speeding back to Burton Crescent--'you mean to say as
you've left them people to do what they like?'
'I suppose I know my own business,' re plied Joseph, wishing to
convey the very impression which in fact he did--that he had the
will in his pocket.
On reaching home he sat down at once and penned a letter to Messrs.
Percival & Peel, formally apprising them of what had happened. Clem
sat by and watched him. Having sealed the envelope, he remarked:
'I'm going out for a couple of hours.'
'Then I shall go with you.'
'You'll do nothing of the kind. Why, what do you mean, you great
gaping fool?' The agitation of his nerves made him break into
unaccustomed violence.
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