The Reading

The lawyer read the will in a flat voice in the long dining room. The estate, the accounts, the whole considerable lot of it, went to whichever of the six was still present at noon in three days. Present, the will specified, and able to sign. Marianne watched the other five do the same arithmetic she was doing. Cousin Roderick laughed, a short ugly bark, and said it was a joke, Constance's last joke, and the lawyer did not laugh with him. He simply turned to the last page and read the final clause, and the final clause said that if any of the six died before noon on the third day, their share would be divided among the survivors. Then he folded the document, set it on the table, and told them where the bedrooms were. Nobody moved for a long time.