Part 39 (2/2)
To the Bayport Congregational Church 5,000
To the Building Fund of the Bayport Lodge of Masons 5,000
To Emmeline Tidditt (his housekeeper) 5,000
To Michael Callahan (his hired man) 5,000
To Elizabeth Berry--in trust until she should be thirty years of age 20,000
Other small bequests, about 7,000
The balance, the residue of the estate, amounting to a sum approximating fifty-five thousand, to Henry Knowles Barnes, of San Francisco, California.
There were several pages of carefully worded directions and instructions. The fifty thousand for the Fair Harbor was already invested in good securities and, from the interest of these, Sears Kendrick's salary of fifteen hundred a year was to be paid as long as he wished to retain his present position as general manager. If the time should come when he wished to relinquish that position he was given authority to appoint his successor at the same salary. Or should Cordelia Berry, at any time, decide to give up her position as matron, Kendrick and Bradley, acting together, might, if they saw fit, appoint a suitable person to act as manager _and_ matron at a suitable salary. In this event, of course, Kendrick would no longer continue to draw his fifteen hundred a year.
The reading was not without interruptions. Mr. Callahan's was the most dramatic. When announcement was made of his five thousand dollar windfall his Celtic fervor got the better of him and he broke loose with a tangled ma.s.s of tearful e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns and prayers, a curious mixture of glories to the saints and demands for blessings upon the soul of his benefactor. Mrs. Tidditt was as greatly moved as he, but she had her emotions under firmer control. The Reverend Mr. Dishup was happy and grateful on behalf of his parish, so too was Captain Baker as representative of the Masonic Lodge. But each of these had been in a measure prepared, they had been led to expect some gift or remembrance.
It was Elizabeth Berry who had, apparently, expected nothing--nothing for herself, that is. When the lawyer announced the generous bequest to the Fair Harbor she caught her breath and turned to look at Sears with an almost incredulous joy in her eyes. But when he read of the twenty thousand which was hers--the income beginning at once and the princ.i.p.al when she was thirty--she was so tremendously taken aback that, for an instant, the captain thought she was going to faint. ”Oh!” she exclaimed, and that was all, but the color left her face entirely.
Sears rose, so did the minister, but she waved them back. ”Don't,” she begged. ”I--I am all right.... No, please don't speak to me for--for a little while.”
So they did not speak, but the captain, watching her, saw that the color came back very slowly to her cheeks and that her eyes, when she opened them, were wet. Her hands, clasped in her lap, were trembling. Sears, although rejoicing for her, felt a pang of hot resentment at the manner of the announcement. It should not have been so public. She should not have had to face such a surprise before those staring spectators. Why had not the judge--or Bradley, if he knew--have prepared her in some measure?
But when it was over and he hastened to congratulate her, she was more composed. She received his congratulations, and those of the others, if not quite calmly at least with dignity and simplicity. To Mr. Dishup and Bradley and Captain Baker she said little except thanks. To Barnes, whose congratulations were sincere and hearty, and, to all appearances at least, quite ungrudging, she expressed herself as too astonished to be very coherent.
”I--I can scarcely believe it yet,” she faltered. ”I can't understand--I can't think why he did it.... And you are all so very kind. You won't mind if I don't say any more now, will you?”
But to Sears when he came, once more, to add another word and to shake her hand, she expressed a little of the uncertainty which she felt.
”Oh,” she whispered; ”oh, Cap'n Kendrick, do you think it is right? Do you think he really meant to do it? You are sure he did?”
His tone should have carried conviction. ”You bet he meant it!” he declared, fervently. ”He never meant anything any more truly; I know it.”
”Do you? Do you really?... Did--did you know? Did he tell you he was going to?”
”Not exactly, but he hinted. He----”
”Wait. Wait, please. Don't tell me any more now. By and by, on the way home, perhaps. I--I want to know all about it. I want to be sure. And,”
with a tremulous smile, ”I doubt if I could really understand just yet.”
The group in the lawyer's office did not break up for another hour.
There were many matters for discussion, matters upon which Bradley and Barnes wished the advice of the others. Mike and Mrs. Tidditt were sent home early, and departed, volubly, though tearfully rejoicing. The minister and Captain Noah stayed on to answer questions concerning the church and the lodge, the former's pressing needs and the new building which the latter had hoped for and which was now a certainty. Sears and Elizabeth remained longest. Bradley whispered to the captain that he wished them to do so.
When they were alone with him, and with Barnes of course, he took from his pocket two sealed letters.
”The judge gave me these along with the will,” he said. ”That was about three weeks before he died. I don't know what is in them and he gave me to understand that I wasn't supposed to know. They are for you two and no one else, so he said. You are to read yours when you are alone, Cap'n Kendrick, and Elizabeth is to read hers when she is by herself. And he particularly asked me to tell you both not to make your decision too quickly. Think it over, he said.”
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