'Guard--point--two! Low guard--point--two!' etc., for it was evident that some of the clerks who were rifle volunteers were having a little bayonet exercise, till a bell rang, when they all vaulted upon their stools and began to write intensely, for then the voice of old Mr. M'Wadsett was heard, and Roland was ushered into his presence.
His room was snug and cosy, albeit its principal furniture consisted of green charter boxes on iron frames, all of which held secrets relating to the families whose well-known names were displayed upon them. How much, indeed, did he not know about all the leading proprietors of Fife and Kinross?
He received his visitor warmly and pleasantly enough, spoke of the war in Egypt, his health, the weather, of course, and then when a pause ensued, Roland stated the object for which he had come.
The lawyer, a fussy little man, with a sharp, keen manner, and sharp, keen gray eyes, raised his silver-rimmed glasses above his bushy white eyebrows, and said:
'My dear sir, I sent a copy of your respected father's will to Egypt.'
'We were holding the lines in front of Ramleh at that time; the Arabs made free with the mail-bags, and lit their pipes with the contents, no doubt, in the desert beyond Ghizeh.'
'I have thought about this will at times, till I have become stupid--woolly in fact, and hated the name of it.'
'Ah,' interrupted Roland, a little testily, 'I fear we only looked upon him latterly as the family banker, and he was useful in that way--very.'
'To your brother in the Guards perhaps too much so,' said the lawyer gravely.
'Well--about the cursed document itself?' began Roland a little impetuously.
'Strong language, my dear sir--strong language! The terms of your respected father's will are, I must say, a little peculiar, and were framed much against my advice; though his old family agent, I scarcely felt justified in drawing out the document.'
'I have heard that its conditions are outrageous.'
'Such as no respectable lawyer should have drawn up,' said Roland sternly.
'Captain Lindsay, there you are wrong--severe--but I excuse you,' replied Mr. M'Wadsett, perking up his bald, shining head, as he drew the document in question from a charter box, after some trouble in finding the key thereof, and which Roland eyed--without touching it--with a very gloomy and louring expression.