Possibly he had destroyed it, intending to make another. As it was he
had died intestate, and succession not being limited to heirs male,
and Madam Liberality being the eldest child of his nearest
relative--the old childish feeling of its being a dream came over her.
She pinched herself, however, to no purpose. There lay the letter, and
after a second reading Madam Liberality picked up the thread of the
narrative and arrived at the result--she had inherited fifteen
thousand a year.
The first rational idea which came to her was that there was no
difficulty now about getting the curtains; and the second was that
their chief merit was a merit no more. What is the good of a thing
being cheap when one has fifteen thousand a year?
Madam Liberality poked the fire extravagantly, and sat down to think.
The curtains naturally led her to household questions, and those to
that invaluable person, Jemima. That Jemima's wages should be doubled,
trebled, quadrupled, was a thing of course. What post she was to fill
in the new circumstances was another matter. Remembering Podmore, and
recalling the fatigue of dressing herself after her pretty numerous
illnesses. Madam Liberality felt that a lady's-maid would be a comfort
to be most thankful for.
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