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You, in a way, are an outsider, always have been, so you cannot really speak of the feelings and workings of the members of the so-called tree. And I would say that you have been lucky in having the love of Douglas, because, in a way, he showed none of the vices of the main body as my father did, like I do, and my son Malcolm does, and'-he now poked his head towards her-'his mother does, too.' Then, lowering his voice, he said, Tm . . . I'm sorry, Bridget, that we're talking like this and at this particular time, because you have lost your husband and I have lost the only 890real man friend I've ever had. Douglas meant a great deal to me and I imagined, unlike some other people, he did not hold me in bad esteem.''And there, I think he was mistaken.''Doubtless you do, Bridget; but it could be better all round if for the next few days we could bury our differences. I would like to help you to see to the affairs of . . .'She broke in sharply, saying, Thank you! But all the affairs have already been dealt with; I do not need any assistance. I have arranged for the funeral to be on Wednesday, and I don't wish to see you until then, when there will be business to attend to. As from then, I shall no longer be maintaining your household, and it will be up to you if you decide to stay on and act for your son, as you did in the beginning for Douglas and me.'The anger that rose in him formed a wave of hate that swelled in his throat. His face turned a deep dark red and for a moment he thought he was going to choke. Then, strangely, it was Douglas's voice he heard. It was loud in his head, saying,

'Get away now.

891Say nothing more. Nothing. Do you hear? Get away.*He wasn't conscious of leaving the room, not of going along the passage to the hall, but he became very conscious of glaring at Amy as she stood within the drawing-room door looking towards him. And he kept Ms gaze on her as he got into his coat and thrust on his hat. When he imagined she was going to take a step towards him he turned swiftly and opened the door and rushed out, because he knew if she had started on him he wouldn't have been able to keep his hands off her.As he got into the car, there flashed through his mind the description of the tree and its branches. His father had murdered a man and he had used physical force on his own daughter; his daughter had used more physical force on a number of people, and she had almost killed one; his grandfather had shot his own son. There was a dangerous vein running through them all and it was strong in him this moment, for he wanted to hit out at something . , . someone. Looking back, at least over the last twenty years, he could see himself having been used and

892manipulated, and now that woman had planned that he would go on being caretaker of his son's inheritance. Well, be damned if he would! Be damned if he would!

11The funeral was over and he'd had no intention of returning to the house; but at the cemetery gates Mr Richard Kemp, who was now an elderly man, had approached him, saying, 'You will be coming back to the house, Mr Skinner?' And to this Joseph had said, 'No, I don't think there is any need.' But Richard Kemp had smiled and said, 'I think you'll find there is a need, Mr Skinner. The will is to be read today, and you should be there.' They had looked hard at each other for a moment, then Joseph had said, 'Very well. Very well.'So now, here he was sitting in one of the two seats placed near the door. To the side of him was the small staff, and old Sam Benson .and his son; in front of him, in two rows of chairs, sat his six children, and in front of

894them were seated Bridget and Amy. A sofa table fronted them all, and behind it Mr Kemp was seated.There were two open folders lying on the table and from one Mr Kemp took up a sheet of parchment paper and began to read. The words were the usual, % Douglas Filmore, of the- . . .' Then came the address and the fact that Douglas was in a sound state of mind; after which followed the details of the will. But before actually beginning to read these, Mr Kemp looked at the assembled company, gave a little smile, then began.*I leave to each of my six grandchildren the sum of five hundred pounds, and to Sam Benson, who has been as my partner and friend for over twenty years, I leave my stonemasonry business, together with the deeds of the stone buildings where we have worked and the farmhouse attached, the whole originally known as Patens Farm, on condition that on his decease he passes the said business and house on to his son, Henry. Included in895this are all the implements appertaining to the business, and the money due from customers.'When Mr Kemp had spoken of the fivehundred pounds left to the grandchildren, there had been no turning of heads, no murmurs. But now came gasps from the two men, and they turned and looked at each other and almost imperceptibly the young man's hand went out and gripped his father's arm.I Mr Kemp nodded at the two recipients as : if expressing his pleasure, too. And now he went on:*I leave to Joseph Skinner, whom I consider to be my nephew, the sum of two thousand pounds. And now I would like Mr Kemp to read the letter to my wife explaining the reason for my further actions.'It was now that Mr Kemp lifted up the other sheet of parchment and, looking towards Bridget, he began:

896'My dearest wife,There is no need for me to tell you how sorry I am that I've had to leave you, and again how sorry I am I have gone against what I know to be your wishes, although they have never actually been voiced. But you know I have always considered that, if everyone had their rights, Joseph, whether illegitimate or legitimate, should have inherited Grove House and the estate. I had hoped that I would have been spared a little longer to witness a new law that is in the offing to the effect that a man born out of wedlock shall have the legal right to inherit. But as I don't think I shall live to see the time when justice prevails, I am leaving the estate as it stands, the house, all it contains, the farm and the adjoining land, to the man I've already said I consider to be my nephew, Joseph Skinner. Please, Bridget, do not be angry with me for this decision. I would never have rested easy if he had been deprived of his right, for we both know that, when my father died and the house became mine, we would have never lived there and I

897would likely have sold it. But it is Joseph who, over the years has brought it to its present state, and, just as I loved the place, so does he. The other matters appertaining to Joseph, I am sure, will resolve themselves. Have patience, my dearest, dear, Bridget, and know that in due time it will be passed on to his son, and I hope his son, my grandson Malcolm, will be as worthy of it as I consider his father to be.I am always and forever, wherever I may be, your devoted husband. Douglas Filmore.'There were different sounds and murmurs in the room. Both Bridget and Amy had their heads bent; no one could see their expressions; but the tears were running down the faces of fhe three girls, and William had Ms hand tight across his mouth, while Jonathan was covering his eyes with his hand; only Malcolm sat staring at the bent heads of his mother and grandmother. But Joseph sat in the back seat, staring over the heads of them all. He really couldn't believe what he had just heard; he felt slightly numb. Strangely,•"•"^"•"-1

898he did not feel elated but he was experiencing a depth of gratitude he could put no name to, and the love for the dead man that was now filling his throat was almost unbearable. He had to get out, get away.Rising swiftly, he turned to the door at his side, opened it, then almost blindly groped his way along the passage to the study, and there he dropped down into a leather chair.It was his. His. How he was going to keep it hadn't yet entered his head. Anyway, it was of no consequence at the moment. The only thing he was aware of was that Douglas had gone against Bridget's wishes, and that must have taken some doing.He was sitting holding his head in his hands when the door was thrust open and his family came in, or at least five of them, and the girls, in different ways, said, 'It's wonderful, Daddy/ And they hugged him and he kissed them but said nothing, until William, after biting on his lip, nodded at him, saying, 'I never thought it would happen, Father.' And to this Jonathan added, 'Nor I, because he gave us to understand, I mean, Malcolm, that it was all cut and dried.Jl899Apparently he got that from mother.

He's . . . he's not very pleased, Father.'And now, for the first time, Joseph forced himself to speak: quietly, he said, 'No, I wouldn't expect him to be.*It was Alice who now put in, 'And there was that bit that grandpa said about him being worthy of inheriting. Well, as he's left it to you, Daddy, you could leave it to anybody you liked who was worthy of inheriting.''Are you coming straight home now, Daddy?'He looked at Kitty and shook his head, saying, 'Not straightaway. I've . . . I've got to go to the office; and I have one or two other things to see to.'They all stood silent for a moment, their heads moving, until Bertha said, 'I know who'll be pleased about this;' and William, looking at her, said, 'Who?''John, of course, and the staff; won't they, Daddy?'He did not answer, but he thought, Yes, they might. Yes. But then, what would

they think when he had to reduce their numbers? Anyway, that was in the future; now he must get to the hospital. 'Go on and join

900your mother and grandma,' he said to them. 'They'll both be needing you.'As they trooped out of the door he heard Alice say, 'I can't understand Grandma.' And William replied, 'I can. Oh, yes, I can.'Yes, William would understand his grandmother because, in a way, he took after his grandfather.He let some minutes elapse before he left the room, and then it was to run straight into Bridget, who must have been making for the study. They stared at each other hard for a moment until Bridget muttered, Til never be able to forgive you, Joseph Skinner, for coming between me and my husband. In all our years together he never went against my wishes, never.'To this he could have answered, 'No, no, of course he didn't; he let you have your own way in everything. He was an easy-going man, and that was the best policy to take; and moreover, he had that inordinate love for you. But you can't bear that a sense of justice should override it.'It was the look on her face, almost of hate, that made him voice his last thoughts: 'You can't bear, Bridget, to think that his sense of

901justice would override your dominance, can you?' And with that he left her, and as it happened they were the last words they were to exchange.As he went from the house Mr Kemp was about to get into his car and he stopped and turned towards him and, when he offered his hand, Joseph took it and it was shaken firmly.'I'm glad things have turned out as they have for you. You've worked for that place if anybody has, much more so, I would say, than any of your ancestors, because it was given to them on a plate. You know what I mean? I couldn't imagine one of them doing a good day's work in his life, except, of course, Mr Douglas. But my father, before he died, God rest his soul, told me quite a bit of the history of the house. In fact, he had documents going way back, and very interesting they were too. They'll be passed on to you when you come to the office, which I would like you to do at your pleasure, but soon.

As I said before, you have really worked for that house, but it's going to take some keeping up, isn't it?

because, as you can gather, Mrs Filmore will no longer be

902supporting the staff now that Mr Douglas has gone. We'll have to put our thinking caps on, won't we?''Yes, I suppose we shall, Mr Kemp; and if it's convenient to you, I'll look in tomorrow around three.*'Yes, that will be quite convenient. Well, good day to you, Mr Skinner, or is it going to be Mr Filmore? But we'll go into that too, I mean about getting your name changed. And, as your uncle said, there is a law in the offing that will give you the right to claim the name. But of course, laws take time to get from the offing and on to the statute books. But it will come, it will come. So, until tomorrow, good day, good day to you.''Good day, Mr Kemp; and thank you. . , ,'From the drawing-room window, where the shades were still half drawn, Amy watched the men part, Joseph to go to his car and drive off.

Malcolm, who was by her side, said, 'Didn't you have an inkling of this, Mother?''No, No, of course not.

I went by what your grandma said. I knew there had been discussion about it with your grandfather, 903but I understood, as always, he would have acceded to her wishes. Well, you see what happened.''Yes, I see what's happened, and I feel I've been let down. This business about being worthy of inheriting. He could leave it to whom he likes if he doesn't think I'm fit; and so I'll have to behave myself like a good littlefcfooy. God! I shall hate going back to the•pouse.'™ 'Well, you have no need to, dear, you may stay here.'He looked at her sharply. Stay here! with his grandmother in the mournful state she was in and his mother in an equally mournful state? No. And anyway this house wasn't run like the other one; there was no real scope. He turned from her now, saying, 'Oh, I'll have to go back; he's paying my college fees. I'm under that obligation; but it shouldn't be an obligation if everybody had their rights. All this talk about rights. But anyway, this has decided rue on something. The Barnetts have an uncle in the British Embassy in Paris. That's where Roger is going when Alice and he marry, and he says his uncle's got a lot of influence there. LastI

904month, there was a post going for a university man. But then they are always going, they're always being moved around the place, he says. So that's where I'll head for.''But you haven't finished your second year. Why don't you stay and get your degree?'He seemed to be thinking, then said, 'Well, he mightn't have the money to keep me there by the sound of things, because Grandma certainly won't fork out for any of the maintenance, will she? And what's more, by the sound of her, she wouldn't give a penny towards my education, because she considers that it's his duty. And what money have you, Mother? Nothing really, at least not until Grandma dies. Then of course'-he smiled now-'you will be a very wealthy lady, because she must be rolling in it.' When she didn't answer he said, 'Are you coming back home now?''No; I can't leave Mother. She's here all alone and she's really in a very odd state. I know she hasn't shed a tear since your grandfather died.'He drew in a long breath before he said, 'Well, I suppose things will go on as usual.