"If
I had time I would have every tree about the place cut down."
"I don't think you could under the entail," said Merton.
"I would use up every stick in building the farmers' barns and mending
the farmers' gates, and I would cover an acre just in front of the house
with a huge conservatory. I respect the law, my boy, and they would find
it difficult to prove that I had gone beyond it. But there is no time
for that kind of finished revenge."
Then he went on with the letter: "You will understand what I mean. I
wish to divide my property so that Mountjoy may have everything that is
not strictly entailed. You will of course say that it will all go to the
gambling-table. It may go to the devil, so that Augustus does not have
it. But it need not go to the gambling-table. If you would consent to
come down to me once more we might possibly devise some scheme for
saving it. But whether we can do so or not, it is my request that my
last will may be prepared in accordance with these instructions.
"Very faithfully yours,
"JOHN SCARBOROUGH."
"And now for the other," said Mr. Scarborough.
"Had you not better rest a bit?" asked Merton.
"No; this is a kind of work at which a man does not want to rest. He is
carried on by his own solicitudes and his own eagerness.
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