ABSTRACT
After the probate of Mrs. Siddall’s will, Arthur spent his days at the estate office with lawyers and managers. At the end of a month he could not determine whether he had inherited a vast fortune or a handsome deficit. He asked the question bluntly and the executors didn’t know either. The lowest valuation of the Siddall Building and the two big houses would call for an inheritance tax that would eat up practically all the quick assets; and a sale would involve an equally disastrous sacrifice, assuming that purchasers could be found, which was highly improbable. It would, the executors remarked sagaciously, take some time to arrive at a settlement. They omitted to say where they would be when they arrived.
