Penniket laid the will on the table before the two cousins, and they
bent forward and read its legal phraseology. Zillah was the first to look
up and to speak.
"I never knew my grandfather had any house property," she said. "Did you,
Melky?"
"S'elp me, Zillah, if I ever knew what he had in that way!" answered
Melky. "He had his secrets and he could be close. No--I never knew of his
having anything but his business. But then, I might have known that he'd
invest his profits in some way or other."
The solicitor unfolded the other document.
"Here's a schedule, prepared by Mr. Multenius himself, and handed by him
to me not many weeks ago, of his property outside this business," he
remarked. "I'll go through the items. Shares in the Great Western Railway.
Shares in the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. Government Stock.
Certain American Railway Stock. It's all particularized--and all gilt-
edged security. Now then, about his house property. There's a block of
flats at Hampstead. There are six houses at Highgate. There are three
villas in the Finchley Road. The rents of all these have been collected by
Messrs.
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