"An exact copy," he said tersely. "Read it for yourself."
In spite of the determined effort which she made to be calm, Mrs.
Mallathorpe's fingers still trembled as she took up the sheet on which
Pratt had made a fair copy of the will. The clerk watched her narrowly
as she read. He knew that presently there would be a tussle between
them: he knew, too, that she was a woman who would fight hard in defence
of her own interest, and for the interests of her children.
Always keeping his ears open to local gossip, especially where money was
concerned, Pratt had long since heard that Mrs. Mallathorpe was a keen
and sharp business woman. And now he was not surprised when, having
slowly and carefully read the copy of the will from beginning to end,
she laid it down, and turned to him with a business-like question.
"The effect of that?" she asked. "What would it be--curtly?"
"Precisely what it says," answered Pratt. "Couldn't be clearer!"
"We--should lose all?" she demanded, almost angrily. "All?"
"All--except what he says--there," agreed Pratt.
"And that," she went on, drumming her fingers on the paper, "that--would
stand?"
"What it's a copy of would stand," said Pratt. "Oh, yes, don't you make
any mistake about it, Mrs. Mallathorpe! Nothing can upset that will. It
is plain as a pikestaff how it came to be made.
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