"It will all go to the gambling-table, of course," he said that night to
Dolly.
"It is no affair of ours."
"No; but when a lawyer is consulted he has to think of the prudent or
imprudent disposition of property."
"Mr. Scarborough hasn't consulted you, papa."
"I must look at it as though he had. He tells me what he intends to do,
and I am bound to give him my advice. I cannot advise him to bestow all
these things on Augustus, whom I regard as a long way the worst of the
family."
"You need not care about that."
"And here, again," continued Mr. Grey, "comes up the question,--what is
it that duty demands? Augustus is the eldest son, and is entitled to
what the law allots him; but Mountjoy was brought up as the eldest son,
and is certainly entitled to what provision the father can make him."
"You cannot provide for such a gambler."
"I don't know that that comes within my duty. It is not my fault that
Mountjoy is a gambler, any more than that it is my fault that Augustus
is a beast. Gambler and beast, there they are. And, moreover, nothing
will turn the squire from his purpose. I am only a tool in his hands,--a
trowel for the laying of his mortar and bricks. Of course I must draw
his will, and shall do it with some pleasure, because it will dispossess
Augustus.
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