"
"Would it? I don't quite see where the felony comes in."
"Well, of course, it is this way: you steal the will--that's felony; and
if you don't show it to him, I suppose you compound it; it is a double
offence--compound felony."
"Nonsense!" answered Augusta to this exposition of the law, which was, it
will be admitted, almost as lucid and convincing as that of an average
Q.C. "How can I steal my own shoulders? It is impossible."
"Oh, no; not at all. You don't know what funny things you can do. I once
had a cousin whom I coached for his examination for the Bar, and I learnt
a great deal about it then. Poor fellow! he was plucked eight times."
"I am sure I don't wonder at it," said Augusta, rudely. "Well, I suppose
I must put on this low dress; but it is horrid--perfectly horrid! You
will have to lend me one, that is all."
"My dear," answered Lady Holmhurst, with a glance at her widow's weeds.
"I have no low dresses: though, perhaps, I can find some among the things
I put away before we sailed," and her eyes filled with tears.
Augusta took her hand, and they began to talk of that great bereavement
and of their own wonderful survival, till at last she led the
conversation round to little Dick, and Bessie Holmhurst smiled again at
the thought that her darling boy, her only child, was safe asleep up
stairs, and not, as she had believed, washing to and fro at the bottom of
the ocean.
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