it wiser to do that at once, and watch its effect upon the gallant
captain narrowly, and trust to inspiration and the moment for striking
out the right course.

If this letter was true there was not a moment to be lost in bringing the
purchase of the vicar's reversion to a point. The possibilities were
positively dazzling. They were worth risking something. I am not sure
that Mr. Larkin's hand did not shake a little as he took the statement of
title again out of the Wylder tin box No. 2.

Now, under the pressure of this enquiry, a thing struck Mr. Larkin,
strangely enough, which he had quite overlooked before. There were
certain phrases in the will of the late Mr. Wylder, which limited a large
portion of the great estate in strict settlement. Of course an attorney's
opinion upon a question of real property is not conclusive. Still they
can't help knowing something of the barrister's special province; and
these words were very distinct--in fact, they stunted down the vicar's
reversion in the greater part of the property to a strict life estate.

Long did the attorney pore over his copy of the will, with his finger and
thumb closed on his under lip. The language was quite explicit--there was
no way out of it. It was strictly a life estate. How could he have
overlooked that? His boy, indeed, would take an estate tail--and could
disentail whenever--if ever--he came of age. But that was in the clouds.
Mackleston-on-the-Moor, however, and the Great Barnford estate, were
unaffected by these limitations; and the rental which he now carefully
consulted, told him these jointly were in round numbers worth 2,300_l._ a
year, and improvable.

This letter of Dutton's, to be sure, may turn out to be all a lie or a