Complete Works of Bram Stoker (339 page)

“2.  If at or before the expiration of the six months above-mentioned the said Rupert Sent Leger shall have accepted the further conditions herein stated, he is to have user of the entire income produced by such residue of my estate the said income being paid to him Quarterly on the usual Quarter Days by the aforesaid Executors to wit Major General Sir Colin Alexander MacKelpie Bart. and Edward Bingham Trent to be used by him in accordance with the terms and conditions hereinafter mentioned.

“3.  The said Rupert Sent Leger is to reside for a period of at least six months to begin not later than three months from the reading of my Will in the Castle of Vissarion in the Land of the Blue Mountains.  And if he fulfil the Conditions imposed on him and shall thereby become possessed of the residue of my estate he is to continue to reside there in part for a period of one year.  He is not to change his British Nationality except by a formal consent of the Privy Council of Great Britain.

“At the end of a year and a half from the Reading of my Will he is to report in person to my Executors of the expenditure of amounts paid or due by him in the carrying out of the Trust and if they are satisfied that same are in general accord with the conditions named in above-mentioned letter marked C and which is an integral part of my Will they are to record their approval on such Will which can then go for final Probate and Taxation.  On the Completion of which the said Rupert Sent Leger shall become possessed absolutely and without further act or need of the entire residue of my estate.  In witness whereof, etc.

“(Signed) Roger Melton.”

This document is attested by the witnesses to the Will on the same date.

(
Personal and Confidential
.)

Memoranda made by Edward Bingham Trent in Connection with the Will of Roger Melton.

January
3, 1907.

The interests and issues of all concerned in the Will and estate of the late Roger Melton of Openshaw Grange are so vast that in case any litigation should take place regarding the same, I, as the solicitor, having the carriage of the testator’s wishes, think it well to make certain memoranda of events, conversations, etc., not covered by documentary evidence.  I make the first memorandum immediately after the event, whilst every detail of act and conversation is still fresh in my mind.  I shall also try to make such comments thereon as may serve to refresh my memory hereafter, and which in case of my death may perhaps afford as opinions contemporaneously recorded some guiding light to other or others who may later on have to continue and complete the tasks entrusted to me.

I.

Concerning the Reading of the Will of Roger Melton.

When, beginning at 11 o’clock a.m. on this the forenoon of Thursday, the 3rd day of January, 1907, I opened the Will and read it in full, except the clauses contained in the letters marked “B” and “C”; there were present in addition to myself, the following:

1.  Ernest Halbard Melton, J.P, nephew of the testator.

2.  Ernest Roger Halbard Melton, son of the above.

3.  Rupert Sent Leger, nephew of the testator.

4.  Major-General Sir Colin Alexander MacKelpie, Bart., co-executor with myself of the Will.

5.  Andrew Rossiter, my clerk, one of the witnesses of the testator’s Will.

6.  Alfred Nugent, stenographer (of Messrs. Castle’s office, 21, Bream’s Buildings, W.C.).

When the Will had been read, Mr. E. H. Melton asked the value of the estate left by the testator, which query I did not feel empowered or otherwise able to answer; and a further query, as to why those present were not shown the secret clauses of the Will.  I answered by reading the instructions endorsed on the envelopes of the two letters marked “B” and “C,” which were sufficiently explanatory.

But, lest any question should hereafter arise as to the fact that the memoranda in letters marked “B” and “C,” which were to be read as clauses 10 and 11 of the Will, I caused Rupert Sent Leger to open the envelope marked “B” in the presence of all in the room.  These all signed a paper which I had already prepared, to the effect that they had seen the envelope opened, and that the memorandum marked “B.  To be read as clause ten of my Will,” was contained in the envelope, of which it was to be the sole contents.  Mr. Ernest Halbard Melton, J.P., before signing, carefully examined with a magnifying-glass, for which he had asked, both the envelope and the heading of the memorandum enclosed in the letter.  He was about to turn the folded paper which was lying on the table over, by which he might have been able to read the matter of the memorandum had he so desired.  I at once advised him that the memorandum he was to sign dealt only with the heading of the page, and not with the matter.  He looked very angry, but said nothing, and after a second scrutiny signed.  I put the memorandum in an envelope, which we all signed across the flap.  Before signing, Mr Ernest Halbard Melton took out the paper and verified it.  I then asked him to close it, which he did, and when the sealing-wax was on it he sealed it with his own seal.  Sir Colin A. MacKelpie and I also appended our own seals.  I put the envelope in another, which I sealed with my own seal, and my co-executor and I signed it across the flap and added the date.  I took charge of this.  When the others present had taken their departure, my co-executor and I, together with Mr. Rupert Sent Leger, who had remained at my request, went into my private room.

Here Mr. Rupert Sent Leger read the memorandum marked “B,” which is to be read as clause 10 of the Will.  He is evidently a man of considerable nerve, for his face was quite impassive as he read the document, which conveyed to him (subject to the conditions laid down) a fortune which has no equal in amount in Europe, even, so far as I know, amongst the crowned heads.  When he had read it over a second time he stood up and said:

“I wish I had known my uncle better.  He must have had the heart of a king.  I never heard of such generosity as he has shown me.  Mr. Trent, I see, from the conditions of this memorandum, or codicil, or whatever it is, that I am to declare within a week as to whether I accept the conditions imposed on me.  Now, I want you to tell me this: must I wait a week to declare?”  In answer, I told him that the testator’s intention was manifestly to see that he had full time to consider fully every point before making formal decision and declaration.  But, in answer to the specific question, I could answer that he might make declaration when he would, provided it was
within
, or rather not after, the week named.  I added:

“But I strongly advise you not to act hurriedly.  So enormous a sum is involved that you may be sure that all possible efforts will be made by someone or other to dispossess you of your inheritance, and it will be well that everything shall be done, not only in perfect order, but with such manifest care and deliberation that there can be no question as to your intention.”

“Thank you, sir,” he answered; “I shall do as you shall kindly advise me in this as in other things.  But I may tell you now  —  and you, too, my dear Sir Colin  —  that I not only accept my Uncle Roger’s conditions in this, but that when the time comes in the other matters I shall accept every condition that he had in his mind  —  and that I may know of  —  in everything.”  He looked exceedingly in earnest, and it gave me much pleasure to see and hear him.  It was just what a young man should do who had seen so generously treated.  As the time had now come, I gave him the bulky letter addressed to him, marked “D” which I had in my safe.  As I fulfilled my obligation in the matter, I said:

“You need not read the letter here.  You can take it away with you, and read it by yourself at leisure.  It is your own property, without any obligation whatever attached to it.  By the way, perhaps it would be well if you knew.  I have a copy sealed up in an envelope, and endorsed, ‘To be opened if occasion should arise,’ but not otherwise.  Will you see me to-morrow, or, better still, dine with me alone here to-night?  I should like to have a talk with you, and you may wish to ask me some questions.”  He answered me cordially.  I actually felt touched by the way he said good-bye before he went away.  Sir Colin MacKelpie went with him, as Sent Leger was to drop him at the Reform.

Letter from Roger Melton to Rupert Sent Leger
,
endorsed
“
D. re Rupert Sent Leger
. 
To be given to him by Edward Bingham Trent if and as soon as he has declared
(
formally or informally
)
his intention of accepting the conditions named in Letter B.
,
forming Clause
10
in my Will
. 
R. M.
, 1/1/’07.

“
Mem.
  —  Copy (sealed) left in custody of E. B. Trent, to be opened if necessary, as directed.”

June
11, 1906.

My Dear Nephew,

When (if ever) you receive this you will know that (with the exception of some definite bequests) I have left to you, under certain conditions, the entire bulk of my fortune  —  a fortune so great that by its aid as a help, a man of courage and ability may carve out for himself a name and place in history.  The specific conditions contained in Clause 10 of my Will have to be observed, for such I deem to be of service to your own fortune; but herein I give my advice, which you are at liberty to follow or not as you will, and my wishes, which I shall try to explain fully and clearly, so that you may be in possession of my views in case you should desire to carry them out, or, at least, to so endeavour that the results I hope for may be ultimately achieved.  First let me explain  —  for your understanding and your guidance  —  that the power, or perhaps it had better be called the pressure, behind the accumulation of my fortune has been ambition.  In obedience to its compulsion, I toiled early and late until I had so arranged matters that, subject to broad supervision, my ideas could be carried out by men whom I had selected and tested, and not found wanting.  This was for years to the satisfaction, and ultimately to the accumulation by these men of fortune commensurate in some measure to their own worth and their importance to my designs.  Thus I had accumulated, whilst still a young man, a considerable fortune.  This I have for over forty years used sparingly as regards my personal needs, daringly with regard to speculative investments.  With the latter I took such very great care, studying the conditions surrounding them so thoroughly, that even now my schedule of bad debts or unsuccessful investments is almost a blank.  Perhaps by such means things flourished with me, and wealth piled in so fast that at times I could hardly use it to advantage.  This was all done as the forerunner of ambition, but I was over fifty years of age when the horizon of ambition itself opened up to me.  I speak thus freely, my dear Rupert, as when you read it I shall have passed away, and not ambition nor the fear of misunderstanding, nor even of scorn can touch me.  My ventures in commerce and finance covered not only the Far East, but every foot of the way to it, so that the Mediterranean and all its opening seas were familiar to me.  In my journeyings up and down the Adriatic I was always struck by the great beauty and seeming richness  —  native richness  —  of the Land of the Blue Mountains.  At last Chance took me into that delectable region.  When the “Balkan Struggle” of ‘90 was on, one of the great Voivodes came to me in secret to arrange a large loan for national purposes.  It was known in financial circles of both Europe and Asia that I took an active part in the
haute politique
of national treasuries, and the Voivode Vissarion came to me as to one able and willing to carry out his wishes.  After confidential pour-parlers, he explained to me that his nation was in the throes of a great crisis.  As you perhaps know, the gallant little Nation in the Land of the Blue Mountains has had a strange history.  For more than a thousand years  —  ever since its settlement after the disaster of Rossoro  —  it had maintained its national independence under several forms of Government.  At first it had a King whose successors became so despotic that they were dethroned.  Then it was governed by its Voivodes, with the combining influence of a Vladika somewhat similar in power and function to the Prince-Bishops of Montenegro; afterwards by a Prince; or, as at present, by an irregular elective Council, influenced in a modified form by the Vladika, who was then supposed to exercise a purely spiritual function.  Such a Council in a small, poor nation did not have sufficient funds for armaments, which were not immediately and imperatively necessary; and therefore the Voivode Vissarion, who had vast estates in his own possession, and who was the present representative a family which of old had been leaders in the land, found it a duty to do on his own account that which the State could not do.  For security as to the loan which he wished to get, and which was indeed a vast one, he offered to sell me his whole estate if I would secure to him a right to repurchase it within a given time (a time which I may say has some time ago expired).  He made it a condition that the sale and agreement should remain a strict secret between us, as a widespread knowledge that his estate had changed hands would in all probability result in my death and his own at the hands of the mountaineers, who are beyond everything loyal, and were jealous to the last degree.  An attack by Turkey was feared, and new armaments were required; and the patriotic Voivode was sacrificing his own great fortune for the public good.  What a sacrifice this was he well knew, for in all discussions regarding a possible change in the Constitution of the Blue Mountains it was always taken for granted that if the principles of the Constitution should change to a more personal rule, his own family should be regarded as the Most Noble.  It had ever been on the side of freedom in olden time; before the establishment of the Council, or even during the rule of the Voivodes, the Vissarion had every now and again stood out against the King or challenged the Princedom.  The very name stood for freedom, for nationality, against foreign oppression; and the bold mountaineers were devoted to it, as in other free countries men follow the flag.

Such loyalty was a power and a help in the land, for it knew danger in every form; and anything which aided the cohesion of its integers was a natural asset.  On every side other powers, great and small, pressed the land, anxious to acquire its suzerainty by any means  —  fraud or force.  Greece, Turkey, Austria, Russia, Italy, France, had all tried in vain.  Russia, often hurled back, was waiting an opportunity to attack.  Austria and Greece, although united by no common purpose or design, were ready to throw in their forces with whomsoever might seem most likely to be victor.  Other Balkan States, too, were not lacking in desire to add the little territory of the Blue Mountains to their more ample possessions.  Albania, Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Servia, Bulgaria, looked with lustful eyes on the land, which was in itself a vast natural fortress, having close under its shelter perhaps the finest harbour between Gibraltar and the Dardanelles.