He lived like a hermit, mostly in the library,
and was waited upon by an old man and his wife, and these three were
the only inhabitants of a mansion that could comfortably house a
hundred. He visited nobody, and would allow no one to approach
Chizelrigg Chase. In order that all who had the misfortune to have
dealing with him should continue to endure trouble after his death, he
left what might be called a will, but which rather may be termed a
letter to me. Here is a copy of it.
'"MY DEAR TOM,--You will find your fortune between a couple
of sheets of paper in the library.
'"Your affectionate uncle,
'"REGINALD MORAN, EARL OF CHIZELRIGG."'
'I should doubt if that were a legal will,' said I.
'It doesn't need to be,' replied the young man with a smile. 'I am
next-of-kin, and heir to everything he possessed, although, of course,
he might have given his money elsewhere if he had chosen to do so. Why
he did not bequeath it to some institution, I do not know. He knew no
man personally except his own servants, whom he misused and starved,
but, as he told them, he misused and starved himself, so they had no
cause to grumble. He said he was treating them like one of the family.
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