Elinor said:
“But surely, after her first stroke—?”
Mr. Seddon shook his head.
“Oh, no, it was worse then. She wouldn’t hear the subject mentioned!”
Roddy said:
“Surely that’s very odd?”
Mr. Seddon said again:
“Oh, no. Naturally, her illness made her much more nervous.”
Elinor said in a puzzled voice:
“But she wanted to die….”
Polishing his eyeglasses, Mr. Seddon said:
“Ah, my dear Miss Elinor, the human mind is a very curious piece of mechanism. Mrs. Welman may have thought she wanted to die; but side by side with that feeling there ran the hope that she would recover absolutely. And because of that hope, I think she felt that to make a will would be unlucky. It isn’t so much that she didn’t mean to make one, as that she was eternally putting it off.”
“You know,” went on Mr. Seddon, suddenly addressing Roddy in an almost personal manner, “how one puts off and avoids a thing that is distasteful—that you don’t want to face?”
Roddy flushed. He muttered:
“Yes, I—I—yes, of course. I know what you mean.”
“Exactly,” said Mr. Seddon. “Mrs. Welman always meant to make a will, but tomorrow was always a better day to make it than today! She kept telling herself that there was plenty of time.”
Elinor said slowly:
“So that’s why she was so upset last night—and in such a panic that you should be sent for….”
Mr. Seddon replied:
“Undoubtedly!”
Roddy said in a bewildered voice:
“But what happens now?”
“To Mrs. Welman’s estate?” The lawyer coughed. “Since Mrs. Welman died intestate, all her property goes to her next of kin—that is, to Miss Elinor Carlisle.”
Elinor said slowly.
“All to me?”
“The Crown takes a certain percentage,” Mr. Seddon explained.
He went into details.
He ended:
“There are no settlements or trusts. Mrs. Welman’s money was hers absolutely to do with as she chose. It passes, therefore, straight to Miss Carlisle. Er—the death duties, I am afraid, will be somewhat heavy, but even after their payment, the fortune will still be a considerable one, and it is very well invested in sound gilt-edged securities.”
Elinor said: