The Two Admirals Read Free

its
perpetuity and renown, that this dignitary did not marry; since the
premature death of all the other sons had left the hall, park, and
goodly farms, without any known legal heir. In a word, this branch of
the family of Wychecombe would be extinct, when Sir Wycherly died, and
the entail become useless. Not a female inheritor, even, or a male
inheritor through females, could be traced; and it had become imperative
on Sir Wycherly to make a will, lest the property should go off, the
Lord knew where; or, what was worse, it should escheat. It is true, Tom
Wychecombe, the judge's eldest son, often gave dark hints about a
secret, and a timely marriage between his parents, a fact that would
have superseded the necessity for all devises, as the property was
strictly tied up, so far as the lineal descendants of a certain
old
Sir Wycherly were concerned; but the present Sir Wycherly had seen his
brother, in his last illness, on which occasion, the following
conversation had taken place.
    "And now, brother Thomas," said the baronet, in a friendly and consoling
manner; "having, as one may say, prepared your soul for heaven, by these
prayers and admissions of your sins, a word may be prudently said,
concerning the affairs of this world. You know I am childless—that is
to say,—"
    "I understand you, Wycherly," interrupted the dying man, "you're a
bachelor
."
    "That's it, Thomas; and bachelors
ought
not to have children. Had our
poor brother James escaped that mishap, he might have been sitting at
your bed-side at this moment, and
he
could have told us all about it.
St. James I used to call him; and well did he deserve the name!"
    "St. James the Least, then, it must have been, Wycherly."
    "It's a dreadful thing to have no heir, Thomas! Did you ever know a case
in your practice, in which another estate was left so completely without
an heir, as this of ours?"
    "It does not often happen, brother; heirs are usually more abundant than
estates."
    "So I thought. Will the king get the title as well as the estate,
brother, if it should escheat, as you call it?"
    "Being the fountain of honour, he will be rather indifferent about the
baronetcy."
    "I should care less if it went to the next sovereign, who is English
born. Wychecombe has always belonged to Englishmen."
    "That it has; and ever will, I trust. You have only to select an heir,
when I am gone, and by making a will, with proper devises, the property
will not escheat. Be careful to use the full terms of perpetuity."
    "Every thing was so comfortable, brother, while you were in health,"
said Sir Wycherly, fidgeting; "you were my natural heir—"
    "Heir of entail," interrupted the judge.
    "Well, well,
heir
, at all events; and
that
was a prodigious comfort
to a man like myself, who has a sort of religious scruples about making
a will. I have heard it whispered that you were actually married to
Martha; in which case, Tom might drop into our shoes, so readily,
without any more signing and sealing."
    "A
filius nullius
," returned the other, too conscientious to lend
himself to a deception of that nature.
    "Why, brother, Tom often seems to me to favour such an idea, himself."
    "No wonder, Wycherly, for the idea would greatly favour him. Tom and his
brothers are all
filii nullorum
, God forgive me for that same wrong."
    "I wonder neither Charles nor Gregory thought of marrying before they
lost their lives for their king and country," put in Sir Wycherly, in an
upbraiding tone, as if he thought his penniless brethren had done him an
injury in neglecting to supply him with an heir, though he had been so
forgetful himself of the same great duty. "I did think of bringing in a
bill for providing heirs for unmarried persons, without the trouble and
responsibility of making wills."
    "That would have been a great improvement on the law of descents—I hope
you wouldn't have overlooked the ancestors."
    "Not I—everybody would have got his rights. They tell me poor Charles
never spoke after he was shot;