Hall, was likely to become extinct. He had the reputation of being the
most eccentric man in the country, and was thought to be the most
inconsistent.

With the highest opinion possible of women, and the greatest pleasure
in their society, he had never married; and with the greatest affection
for his nieces, and the greatest theoretical confidence in them, he had
hedged them about with countless laws and restrictions, and had
educated them in a way quite different from the training of young
ladies of their rank and prospects. He had succeeded two childless
elder brothers in the possession of the estate; and Jane and Alice
Melville were the only children of his only sister, who had been dead
for fifteen years.

The funeral had just taken place, and the two girls had been summoned
into the drawing-room to hear the will read by Mr. MacFarlane, the
Edinburgh lawyer, who had drawn it out. They found in the room Mr.
Baird, their uncle's medical attendant, and a stranger whom they
had never seen before--a tall, grave-looking man of about thirty-four,
whose mourning was new, and who showed a deep interest in what was
going on.

Both the man of law and the man of medicine looked nervous and
embarrassed, and delayed proceeding to business as long as they
possibly could; fumbling with knots of red tape; opening the closed
curtains to admit a little more light, and then closing them again, as
if the light was too strong; so that the sisters had time to look at
the stranger, and to wonder who he was and what his business could be
there. He also seemed to be taking notes of the young ladies in a
quiet, timid manner.