That seemed all right too; for there were, apparently, no legal heirs.

Since then, however, it has been discovered that there is a legal heir--none other than the Doctor's only son.
Now, as no allusion to the son's existence was made in that will--which was a great oversight of the Doctor's--it is a fiction of the law that such an omission is an act of forgetfulness, and therefore leaves the son the same rights as if there had been no will at all.

In other words, if the Doctor had seen fit to throw his scapegrace son a hundred dollar bill, it would have been legal evidence that he remembered him.
As he did not, it's a fair legal presumption that he forgot him, or that the will is incomplete." "This seems to be a question for Mrs.Saltonstall's lawyers--not for her friends," said Carroll, coldly.
"Excuse me; that remains for you to decide--when you hear all.

You understand at present, then, that Dr.West's property, both by assignment and will, was made over, in the event of his death, not to his legal heirs, but to a comparative stranger.

It looked queer to a good many people, but the only explanation was, that the Doctor had fallen very much in love with the widow--that he would have probably married her--had he lived." With an unpleasant recollection that this was almost exactly Maruja's explanation of her mother's relations to Dr.West, Carroll returned, impatiently, "If you mean that their private relations may be made the subject of legal discussion, in the event of litigation in regard to the property, that again is a matter for Mrs.Saltonstall to decide--and not her friends.