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Rh 'Lucius,' said Lady Mason, becoming courageous on the spur of the moment, 'I want you to leave that for a moment and speak to me.'

'Well, said he, putting down his pencil and turning round. 'Here I am.'

'You have heard of the lawsuit which I had with your brother when you were an infant?'

'Of course I have heard of it; but I wish you would not call that man my brother. He would not own me as such, and I most certainly would not own him. As far as I can learn he is one of the most detestable human beings that ever existed.'

'You have heard of him from an unfavourable side, Lucius; you should remember that. He is a hard man, I believe; but I do not know that he would do anything which he thought to be unjust.'

'Why then did he try to rob me of my property?'

'Because he thought that it should have been his own. I cannot see into his breast, but I presume that it was so.'

'I do not presume anything of the kind, and never shall. I was an infant and you were a woman,—a woman at that time without many friends, and he thought that he could rob us under cover of the law. Had he been commonly honest it would have been enough for him to know what had been my father's wishes, even if the will had not been rigidly formal. I look upon him as a robber and a thief.'

'I am sorry for that, Lucius, because I differ from you. What I wish to tell you now is this,—that he is thinking of trying the question again.'

'What!—thinking of another trial now?' and Lucius Mason pushed his drawings and books from him with a vengeance.

'So I am told.'

'And who told you? I cannot believe it. If he intended anything of the kind I must have been the first person to hear of it. It would be my business now, and you may be sure that he would have taken care to let me know his purpose.'

'And then by degrees she explained to him that the man himself, Mr. Mason of Groby, had as yet declared no such purpose. She had intended to omit all mention of the name of Mr. Dockwrath, but she was unable to do so without seeming to make a mystery with her son. When she came to explain how the rumour had arisen and why she had thought it necessary to tell him this, she was obliged to say that it had all arisen from the wrath of the attorney. 'He has been to Groby Park,' she said, 'and now that he has returned he is spreading this report.'

'I shall go to him to-morrow, said Lucius, very sternly.

'No, no; you must not do that. You must promise me that you will not do that.'