"Yes, on the part of one or two," the old man admitted, "who think, and wrongly so, that if some means can be found to prevent Nan's taking part at the crowning this spring, they will be able to prove their right to carry on when the court of claims, where such things are argued before the king's representatives, meets a few days hence in London."
"Does Mrs. Sherwood know of all of this?" Dr. Prescott asked further.
"Not yet. This portion of the inheritance was bestowed under the terms of another will which was put in my keeping by Hugh Blake. The Edinburgh solicitors who handled the estate for Mrs. Sherwood when she and her husband were here, know this story I have told you, however. Even now, they are awaiting word from me as to how to proceed. They are anxious, too, for Nan to come. Tonight, with your consent," he continued, "I will send off a cable to America, explaining the circumstances. We will not proceed until we hear from Nancy's parents."
Somewhere in the large rooms of the old castle a clock now chimed slowly, one, two, three.
Dr. Prescott looked at her watch. "Will you be so kind," she said as she arose from her chair, "as to wait and send that cable in the morning? What you have told me here tonight has come so unexpectedly that I'd like an hour or two to think it over before communicating with Nan's parents."
"You don't object," James Blake seemed startled at the mere thought, "to Nan's taking part in the coronation?"
"None whatsoever," Dr. Prescott hastened to assure him. "It will be a great privilege and honor indeed, doubly so, because she is an American girl."
"Aye, that has been some of the cause for trouble," he said, "with the people hereabouts. They didn't want the honor to go across the seas. But Nancy's mother, when she came over to take possession of the estate quite won the heart of everyone. Now Nancy has done the same. There will be no more trouble of that sort," he promised, "and no more trouble of any kind, if I can help it." He finished the sentence belligerently.
His own fighting mood brought back to Dr. Prescott's mind the accident in the carriage.
"Do you know at all what happened tonight?" she asked.
"You mean what caused the accident?" he parried, for here was something he did not want to talk about as yet.