"
"Beverley!" said the Preacher, glancing up quickly, "of Ashleydown?"
"Sir," said Barnabas, "surely they are all dead?"
"True, true!" nodded the Preacher, "the name is extinct. That is how
the man--Chichester came into the inheritance. I knew the family well,
years ago. The brothers died abroad, Robert, the elder, with his
regiment in the Peninsula, Francis, in battle at sea, and Joan--like
my own poor Beatrix, was unhappy, and ran away, but she was never
heard of again."
"And her name was Joan?" said Barnabas slowly, "Joan--Beverley?"
"Yes."
"Sir, Joan Beverley was my mother! I took her name--Beverley--for a
reason."
"Your mother! Ah, I understand it now; you are greatly like her, at
times, it was the resemblance that puzzled me before. But, sir--if
Joan Beverley was your mother, why then--"
"Then, Chichester has no right to the property?"
"No!"
"And--I have?"
"If you can prove your descent."
"Yes," said Barnabas, "but--to whom?"
"You must seek out a Mr. Gregory Dyke, of Lincoln's Inn; he is the
lawyer who administered the estate--"
"Stay," said Barnabas, "let me write it down."
"And now, young sir," said the Preacher, when he had answered all
the eager questions of Barnabas as fully as he might, "now, young sir,
you know I have small cause to love the man--Chichester, but, remember,
you are rich already, and if you take this heritage also,--he will be
destitute.
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