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reason why I shouldn’t leave my money where I choose! You’ve none of you got a ha’porth of claim to it, so don’t think it! At the same time, I was never one to forget my own kith and kin. No one can say I haven’t done my duty by the family. Why, when I think of the times I’ve let you all come down here—nasty, destructive boys you were, too!—besides giving Dolphinton’s mother, who’s no niece of mine, a lot of advice she’d have done well to have listened to, when my nevvy Dolphinton died—well, there it is! I’ve got a feeling for my own blood there’s no explaining. George has it too: it’s the only thing I like about you, George. So it seemed to me that my money ought to go to one of you. At the same time, there’s Kitty, and I’m not going to deny that I’d like her to have it, and if I hadn’t a sense of what’s due to the family I’d leave it to her, and make no more ado about it!” He glanced from Biddenden to Hugh, and gave a sudden cackle of mirth. “I daresay you’ve often asked yourselves if she wasn’t my daughter, hey? Well, she ain’t! No relation of mine at all. She was poor Tom Charing’s child, all right and tight, whatever you may have suspected. She’s the last of the Charings, more’s the pity. Tom and I were lads together, but his father left him pretty well in the basket, and mine left me plump enough in the pocket. Tom died before Kitty was out of leading-strings, and there weren’t any Charings left, beyond a couple of sour old cousins, so I adopted the girl. Nothing havey-cavey about the business at all, and no reason why she shouldn’t marry into any family she chooses. So I’ve settled it that one of you shall have her, and my fortune into the bargain.”
    “I must say, sir, it is an odd, whimsical notion!” Biddenden remarked. “And one which—”
    “Whimsical!” exclaimed Hugh, in tones of disgust. “I had rather have called it outrageous!”
    “Very well, my lad, if that’s what you think, don’t offer for her!” retorted Mr. Penicuik.
    “Pray be silent, Hugh! May I enquire, sir, whether the whole of your estate is to be bequeathed to the—er— fortunate suitor?”
    “To Kitty, once she safely married. I don’t hold with cutting up property.”
    “And in the event of no offer’s being received?”
    Mr. Penicuik gave vent to another of his cackles. “I ain’t afraid of that!”
    Hugh rose to his feet, and stood towering above his great-uncle. “I will not be silenced! The whole of this scheme must be repugnant to any female of delicacy. Pray, which of us do you mean to compel her to marry?”
    “Don’t stand there, giving me a crick in my neck!” said Mr. Penicuik. “I shan’t compel her to marry any of you. I don’t say I wouldn’t rather she had one than another, naming no names, but I’m not an unreasonable man, and I’m willing to let her have her pick amongst you. Plenty of you to choose from!”
    “But what if she should refuse, sir?” asked Biddenden anxiously.
    “Then I’ll leave my money to the Foundling Hospital, or some such thing!” replied Mr. Penicuik. “She won’t be such a zany!”
    “Am I correct in assuming, sir, that Kitty has no fortune of her own?” demanded Hugh.
    “Not a farthing piece,” said Mr. Penicuik cheerfully.
    Hugh’s eyes flashed. “And you say you do not compel her! I marvel at you, sir! I may say that I am profoundly shocked! Without fortune, what hope can any female, circumstanced as Kitty is, have of achieving a respectable alliance?”
    “She can’t have any, of course,” said Mr. Penicuik becoming momently more affable as his great-nephew’s choler rose.
    “No, indeed!” exclaimed Lord Biddenden, almost shuddering at the thought of marriage with a portionless female. “Really, Hugh, you go too far! I don’t know where you learned your fantastic notions! One would say there had never been a marriage arranged before, yet you must be well aware that in our circle such