There was another proviso added to this offer: as the
valuation and division of the property must take time, an income at the
rate of two hundred pounds a month should be allowed to Augustus till
such time as it should be completed. Such was the offer which Augustus
had authorized his attorney to make.
There was some delay in getting Mountjoy to consent to a reply. Before
the offer had reached Mr. Barry he was already at Monte Carlo, with that
ready money his father had left behind him. At every venture that he
made,--at least at every loss which he incurred,--he told himself that it
was altogether the doings of Florence Mountjoy. But he returned to
England, and consented to a reply. He was the eldest son, and meant to
support that position, both on his mother's behalf and on his own. As to
his father's will, made in his favor, he felt sure that his brother
would not have the hardihood to dispute it. A man's bodily sufferings
were no impediment to his making a will; of mental incapacity he had
never heard his father accused till the accusation had now been made by
his own son. He was, however, well aware that it would not be preferred.
As to what his brother had done for himself, it was hardly worth his
while to answer such an allegation.
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