Page 136 - Fairbrass

‘ Now,1 said the lawyer, ‘ this, as a

matter of fact, has happened. We are in
a position to prove, beyond all question,

that that young gentleman ’— here he
indicated Fairbrass— ‘ who, Heaven help

him ! cannot hear me, and will never be

able to comprehend his good fortune, did
lay flowers on his grandfather’s body, and

thus we shall have no difficulty in proving

him to be his grandfather’s heir,’
What happened at the Big House after

this Fairbrass never precisely remembered.
There was a murmur of startled astonish­

ment; the two old executors having satisfied
themselves that their own legacies still were

secure, took their departure; the friendly

housekeeper rushed at him, clasped him
in her arms, pressed him to her ample

bosom, and called him a ‘ blessed darling’ ;
the men servants, in accordance with their

stations, smirked, grinned, knuckled their
foreheads, and spoke of him as the * Young

Squire’ ; and all the time his father was

holding a hurried, and, on his part, heated