in!â
âBobâs very discreet, Florrie,â said Gamadge, smiling.
âYou can carry that kind of thing too far. I told him to destroy my other will, and I just drew up the new one myself. I know exactly how, and I got the telephone man and his assistant to witness it for me. Theyâre very nice boys, local boys; Iâve known them since they used to bring berries around.â
âYou know how to make wills, Florrie?â
âYes, I do. Iâve had plenty of practice.â
âI suppose you made one after you were married.â
âYes, I did. I left everything to Tim, and Bob Macloud fussed me and fussed me until I made another, a much more sensible one, about three years ago.â
âPoor Bob.â
âIâm quite willing to admit that it was more sensible. You know I havenât much to leave, Henry; only about five hundred thousand dollars. You know how our moneyâs tied up?â
âYou and Syl have the income.â
âUntil one of us dies, and of course I shall die first. So Iâll never have more to leave than this five hundred thousand, whichâas I keep reminding Bobâis absolutely my own to do as I like with. I earned it myself!â
âPlaying the market?â Gamadge smiled at her.
âYes, and it was hard work, I can tell you! I read the financial pages every day, and I spent hours at my brokerâs, sitting in front of one of those blackboards, with a lot of men.â
âI bet you had a glorious time.â
âIt was glorious to make the money, and have something to put in a will. I never can save much out of my income now, and I donât suppose that Iâll ever be able to earn much that way again. Do you?â
Gamadge said he feared not.
âWell, as I say, I felt that this five hundred thousand was my own; so about three years ago, when I made my new will, I did just as I chose in it. I left nice legacies to the servants, and annuities to Thomas and Louise, and a hundred thousand to my church in New Yorkâdear Dr. Stokes-Burgess, I hope heâll be alive then to distribute it. Heâs quite a young man. Itâs the Church of SS. Gervase and Protase. And I left a hundred thousand to the Bethea Home for Destitute Children; Mother founded it, and Iâve always been interested in it. I wish I had enough to rebuild it entirelyâitâs dreadfully out of date, no laboratory. That left about two hundred and sixty thousand. I left twenty-five thousand apiece to Sally Deedes, Susie Burt, and Evelyn Wing. Tim was my residuary legatee; that meant a hundred and eighty-five thousand, more or less, my personal goods and chattels, and Underhill.â
âUnderhill is yours, is it?â
âOh, yes; didnât you know? It costs me a fortune, too, and Syl wonât do anything, though he treats it as if it belonged to him too.â
âYou brought him up to treat it that way.â
âWell, he ought to help me with the taxes and upkeep. My personal chattels donât amount to muchâI never bought myself jewellery.â
âDidnât your father buy you jewellery?â
âJust a few things. He hated buying jewellery. He thought it was a poor investment, and I suppose I caught the idea from him. Well, Bob Macloud didnât make any fuss about the will I made three years ago.â
âItâs not a bad will. But if Miss Wing knows whatâs in it, Iâm not surprised that she keeps her temper when you lose yours.â
âShe doesnât know anything about her legacy. Nobody knows about my wills. The only will they know anything about is that first one I made after I married; I told everybody I was leaving everything to Tim. Five hundred thousand didnât seem much for himâthen.â
âNo; I understand that.â
âBut Bob Macloud fussed me about Susie Burt and Sally. I think it was very good of me to leave them as much as I left
Jarrett Hallcox, Amy Welch
Sex Retreat [Cowboy Sex 6]