They were many, some of them were beautiful, and more than half of them were centuries old.

Her conviction that the very just man was certainly in heaven already did not make it seem wholly useless to pray for him.

No one could be quite sure of what happened in paradise, and in any case, if he was in no need of such intercession himself, she was allowed to hope that grace might overflow and avail to help some poor soul in purgatory, by means of the divine indulgence.
Madame Bernard came back at last, but there was consternation in her kindly face, for the great legal light had confirmed every word the Princess and her lawyer had said to Angela, and had shrugged his shoulders at the suggestion that a will might still be found.

He had told the governess plainly that a man married to a woman only by a religious ceremony was not legally her husband, and that his children had neither name nor rights unless he went through the legal form of recognising them before the proper authorities.

If the parents died without making a will, the children had no claim whatever on the estate unless they had been properly recognised.