The lawyer smiled as he read the wish, thinking to himself that luckily no wish on the part of Will Belton could influence his old client either for good or evil.

What man, let alone what lawyer, will ever believe in the sincerity of such a wish as that expressed by the heir to a property?
And yet where is the man who will not declare to himself that such, under such circumstances, would be his own wish?
Clara Amedroz at this time was not a very young lady.

She had already passed her twenty-fifth birthday, and in manners, appearance, and habits was, at any rate, as old as her age.

She made no pretence to youth, speaking of herself always as one whom circumstances required to take upon herself age in advance of her years.

She did not dress young, or live much with young people, or correspond with other girls by means of crossed letters; nor expect that, for her, young pleasures should be provided.