Fishing with these, baited with breadcrumbs, they secured quite a number
of chub and dace, and made the valley musical with their laughter at
each success or mishap, by the time the Bridesdale people returned from
the impromptu funeral. The Squire was busy in his office, looking over
Nash's legacy, preparatory to sending it to Bangs, who had begged him to
forward the documents without delay. The only thing of note he found
was, that Rawdon did not bank his money; he had no bank account
anywhere. Where did he stow away the fortune he must have made? There
was a note of the casual conversation of an assumed miser with Rawdon,
in which Rawdon was represented as saying: "Dry sandy soil, well drained
with two slopes, under a rain-shed, will keep millions in a cigar box."
That the Squire noted; then he sealed up the rest of the papers, and
addressed them to Hickey Bangs, Esq., D.I.R., ready for the post in the
morning. The colonel, Mrs. and Miss Du Plessis were all in Wilkinson's
room. The colonel was commenting upon the four poor souls that had gone
before God's judgment seat, three of them, probably, with murder on
their hands; and thanked God that his boy had died in the war, brave and
pure and good, with no stain on his young life.
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