Married
or single?"
"Single."
"What a pity you are getting so old, Hesden! You might make a match
and settle her claim in that way. Though I don't suppose she has
any in law."
"On the contrary, madam," said Pardee, "her title is perfect. She
can recover not only this plantation but every rood of the original
tract."
"You don't say!" exclaimed the invalid. "It would make her one of
the richest women in the State!"
"Undoubtedly."
"Oh, it cannot be, Captain Pardee!" exclaimed Miss Hetty. "It cannot
be!"
"There can be no doubt about it," said Pardee. "She is the
great-grand-daughter of 'Red Jim,' and his only lineal descendant.
His daughter Alice, to whom this is bequeathed, married before
arriving at the age of eighteen, and died in wedlock, leaving an
only daughter, who also married before she became of age, and also
died in wedlock, leaving a son and daughter surviving. The son died
without heirs of his body, and only the daughter is left. There has
never been an hour when the action of the statute was not barred."
"Have you seen her?" asked Mrs. Le Moyne.
"Yes."
"Does she know her good luck?"
"She is fully informed of her rights."
"Indeed? You told her, I suppose?"
"I found her already aware of them."
"Why, how could that be?"
"I am sure I do not know," said Pardee, glancing sharply at Hesden.
"What," said Hesden, with a start; "what did you say is the name
of the heir?"
"I did not say," said Pardee coolly.
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