And presently, after some humming and thinking, 'I wish to leave all my real property to the eldest son of my uncle, Anthony Soane,' he continued.
'Right, sir.

Child already in existence, I presume?
Not that it is absolutely necessary,' the attorney continued glibly.

'But--' 'I do not know,' said Sir George.
'Ah!' said the lawyer, raising his pen and knitting his brows while he looked very learnedly into vacancy.

'The child is expected, but you have not yet heard, sir, that--' 'I know nothing about the child, nor whether there is a child,' Sir George answered testily.

'My uncle may be dead, unmarried, or alive and married--what difference does it make ?' 'Certainty is very necessary in these things,' Peter replied severely.
The pen in his hand, he became a different man.