The Moon Rock | Page 7

was like a sister, at that moment, to slip
back to the juvenile name and kiss his elderly face with tears in her
eyes. Robert Turold received the caress unmoved, and she went back to
the sofa.
"Lord Turrald! It sounds well," murmured her husband, whose ideas
were sufficiently democratic to give him a sneaking admiration for a

title. He gazed at his brother-in-law with a new respect, discerning
unsuspected indications of noble blood in his grim visage.
"How do you account for the two forms of spelling your family name?"
observed Dr. Ravenshaw. "The House of Lords will require proof on
that point, will they not?"
"I shall be able to satisfy them," returned Robert Turold. "The first
Robert Turold reverted to the Norman spelling when he settled in
Suffolk. Turrald is the corrupted form, doubtless due to early Saxon
difficulties with Norman names. The Saxons were never very glib at
Norman-French, and there was no standardized spelling of family
names at that period."
"It would be interesting to know how the name of Simon came to be
bestowed upon the Simon Turrald who fled to Cornwall after Bosworth.
The name is Biblical--not Norman. The Normans were pagan,
worshipping Woden and Thor, though supposed to be Christianized
after Charles the Simple ceded Neustria to Rollo."
"Simon was a good mediaeval name in France and was fairly common
in England from the twelfth century until after the Reformation. It was
Norman, as being that of an apostle, and was never popular among the
Puritans."
"It seems a pity that you cannot claim the Turrald estates," put in
Austin. "They must have been immensely wealthy."
"It is quite out of the question," replied Robert decisively. "They have
been alienated for centuries. But it has been part of my life's work to
provide for the upkeep of the title when I gained it. I shall be able to
ensure my heirs an income of nearly eight thousand pounds a year."
It was Mrs. Pendleton's first intimation of the amount of the fortune her
brother had gained abroad. "Eight thousand a year!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, Robert, it is wealth."
"One could live very comfortably on eight thousand a year," remarked

her husband, "very comfortably indeed."
"It's not much to support a title, after the tax-gatherers have taken their
pound of flesh in income tax and super-tax," said Austin. "Robert, with
his iron frame, will probably outlive a weakling like myself, but if he
doesn't I'm sure I shall find it difficult to keep up the title on the
money."
"One word!" said Dr. Ravenshaw, with a quick glance at Robert Turold.
"This is a barony by writ that you are claiming. Does not your daughter
succeed you if you gain it, and not your brother?"
"No," replied Robert Turold. "The next holder of the title, after me, will
be my brother, and his son will succeed him."
Little Mr. Pendleton looked questioningly at his brother-in-law.
"A similar question was on my lips," he said hesitatingly. "I know very
little of such matters, but in view of our family's probable entry into the
ranks of the old nobility I have deemed it my duty to make myself
acquainted, to some extent, with the history of the Turrald title and
peerage law. It seems a very complicated business--peerage law, I
mean--in the case of baronies by writ, but I certainly gathered the
impression that a sole daughter can succeed, although several daughters
are regarded as coheirs."
"My daughter cannot succeed to the Turrald title," rejoined Robert
Turold. The words seemed to be wrung out of him reluctantly.
"It is not for me to question your knowledge--your great knowledge--of
English peerage law, Robert," pursued Mr. Pendleton with a kind of
timid persistence. "But I brought a book down with me in the train in
which I remember reading that the right of a single daughter to succeed
to a barony by writ had been well established by the Clifton case and
several others. I am not precisely aware what the Clifton case is, but
I've no doubt that you are well versed in the particulars of it. As you
have no son your daughter has priority of claim over your brother and
his son. From what you say I can see that I must be quite wrong, but I'd

be glad if you would explain to me."
"You have stated the law accurately enough," said Robert Turold, "but
my daughter does not succeed to the title."
"Why not?"
Embarrassment, perceptible as a cloud, deepened on Robert Turold's
face. He regained his self-control with an effort.
"There was an informality in my marriage," said he at last. "My
daughter's birth was irregular."
"Do you mean that she is illegitimate?" asked Dr. Ravenshaw.
Robert Turold inclined his head. "Yes," he said.