"Have you sent for me?" I asked, indifferently, not addressing anyone
in particular, my aim being merely to break the monotonous silence
which prevailed during my inspection.
The solicitous brother dropped his lower jaw as if he intended to
answer me, after he had given me to understand that I had either
shocked or surprised him very much, or both, and said
"--a--yes, young lady--yes, we have sent for you--a--be seated, young
lady, be seated," he continued, disengaging his modest hands from
their becoming, mutual clasp, and waving one in a graceful, curved
line towards an unoccupied seat in a remote end of the room.
"We think it our duty," he began, in a sepulchral monotone, fastening
his spectacles upon me as if he intended to add, "to frighten you out
of your very wits," which was a rash presumption on my part, however,
for he only said, "to submit to you the result of our careful
investigation into the affairs of your late lamented father." I nodded
a quiet assent, my step-mother pressed a deep-bordered handkerchief to
her eyes, and Fred looked vacantly at the pattern on the wall.
"As you are aware," he continued, clearing his throat which had grown
somewhat rusty from his pompous exordium "the late respected gentleman
in question did not leave matters in as satisfactory a condition as
might have been desired--in fact--eh--well, altogether, the residue of
his once considerable fortune makes but a paltry annuity for his
bereaved survivors.
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