CHAPTER XXVIII. THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH.
We call Death cruel, but death ends all strife,
Dishonour turns to gall the sweetest life.
To say that those who had assembled in the drawing-room of the Grange to hear the will read were astonished at the extraordinary disclosures they had heard, would give but a faint idea of the amazement they felt. That the squire should have left his large fortune to a son of whom no one had ever heard was most remarkable, but that the son in question should turn out to be Reginald Blake was almost beyond belief.
Still, after examining all the evidences of the fact, Mr. Bolby came to the conclusion that there could be no doubt as to the identity of the young man.
According to the story told by Patience Allerby, who was well known to be the nurse of the boy
