The
bequest was probably intended not to take effect till after the
death of your mother and myself; nevertheless, as the will is actually
worded, it will now be at your command if you live to be twenty-one
years old. From this, however, large deductions must be made. There
will be legacy duty, and I do not know whether I am not entitled to
deduct the expenses of your education and maintenance from birth to
your coming of age; I shall not in all likelihood insist on this right
to the full, if you conduct yourself properly, but a considerable
sum should certainly be deducted; there will therefore remain very
little -say L1000 or L2000 at the outside, as what will be actually
yours -but the strictest account shall be rendered you in due time.
"This, let me warn you most seriously, is all that you must expect
from me" (even Ernest saw that it was not from Theobald at all), "at
any rate till after my death, which for aught any of us know may be
yet many years distant. It is not a large sum, but it is sufficient if
supplemented by steadiness and earnestness of purpose. Your mother and
I gave you the name Ernest, hoping that it would remind you
continually of --" but I really cannot copy more of this effusion.
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