"
"He does not know it. I am only here on a business visit.
Tell me, Mr. Robinson, how is my father?"
"I think, Carl, that he is not at all well.
I am quite sure he misses you, and I don't believe
your stepmother's influence over him is
beneficial. Just before I came away I heard
a rumor that troubled me. It is believed in
Edgewood that she is trying to induce your
father to make a will leaving all, or nearly all
his property to her and her son."
"I don't care so much for that, Mr. Robinson,
as for my father's health."
"Carl," said Robinson, significantly, "if such
a will is made I don't believe your father will
live long after it."
"You don't mean that?" said Carl, horror-struck.
"I think Mrs. Crawford, by artful means
will worry your father to death. He is of a
nervous temperament, and an unscrupulous
woman can shorten his life without laying herself
open to the law."
Carl's face grew stern.
"I will save my father," he said, "and
defeat my stepmother's wicked schemes."
"I pray Heaven you can. There is no time to be lost."
"I shall lose no time, you may be sure.
I shall be at Edgewood within a week."
CHAPTER XXXVI.
MAKING A WILL.
In Edgewood Center events moved slowly.
In Carl Crawford's home dullness reigned
supreme. He had been the life of the house,
and his absence, though welcome to his stepmother,
was seriously felt by his father, who
day by day became thinner and weaker, while
his step grew listless and his face seldom
brightened with a smile.
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