"We'll pass that. If you get this money, the estate is
worth sixty thousand dollars, plus the value of the land
out there at Annandale, and Glenarm House is worth-"
"There you have me!"
It was the first lightness he had shown, and it put me
on guard.
"I should like an idea of its value. Even an unfinished
house is worth something."
"Land out there is worth from one hundred to one
hundred and fifty dollars an acre. There's an even
hundred acres. I'll be glad to have your appraisement
of the house when you get there."
"Humph! You flatter my judgment, Pickering. The
loose stuff there is worth how much?"
"It's all in the library. Your grandfather's weakness
was architecture-"
"So I remember!" I interposed, recalling my stormy
interviews with John Marshall Glenarm over my choice
of a profession.
"In his last years he turned more and more to his
books. He placed out there what is, I suppose, the
finest collection of books relating to architecture to be
found in this country. That was his chief hobby, after
church affairs, as you may remember, and he rode it
hard. But he derived a great deal of satisfaction from
his studies."
I laughed again; it was better to laugh than to cry
over the situation.
"I suppose he wanted me to sit down there, surrounded
by works on architecture, with the idea that
a study of the subject would be my only resource. The
scheme is eminently Glenarmian! And all I get is a
worthless house, a hundred acres of land, ten thousand
dollars, and a doubtful claim against a Protestant nun
who hoodwinked my grandfather into setting up a
school for her. Bless your heart, man, so far as my inheritance
is concerned it would have been money in my
pocket to have stayed in Africa."
"That's about the size of it."
"But the personal property is all mine,-anything
that's loose on the place. Perhaps my grandfather
planted old plate and government bonds just to pique
the curiosity of his heirs, successors and assigns. It
would be in keeping!"
I had walked to the window and looked out across
the city. As I turned suddenly I found Pickering's
eyes bent upon me with curious intentness. I had never
liked his eyes; they were too steady. When a man always
meets your gaze tranquilly and readily, it is just
as well to be wary of him.
"Yes; no doubt you will find the place literally
packed with treasure," he said, and laughed. "When
you find anything you might wire me."