"Money! money is at the bottom of it all," was his final decision.

"She knows it and is making her will, as a possible protection.
But why come here ?" Thus every reflection ended.
Suddenly a vanished, half-forgotten memory came back.

It brought a gleam of light into the darkness which had hitherto enveloped the whole matter.
She had once spoken to him of her early life.

She had mentioned a place where she used to play as a child; had mentioned it lovingly, longingly.
There were hills, she had said; hills all around.

And woods full of chestnut-trees, safe woods where she could wander at will.