You ladies have seisin of this house and lands, although you never seized them." "The last thing we would think of doing," answered Mrs.Carnaby, who was more impulsive than her sister, also less straightforward.

"How often we have wished that our poor lost brother had not been deprived of them! But our father's will was sacred, and you told us we were helpless.

We struggled, as you know; but we could do nothing." "That is the question which brought me here," the lawyer said, very quietly, at the same time producing a small roll of parchment sealed in cartridge paper.

"Last week I discovered a document which I am forced to submit to your judgment.

Shall I read it to you, or tell its purport briefly ?" "Whatever it may be, it can not in any way alter our conclusions.