CHAPTER I--THE DEPARTURE
On New Year\'s day Dr. Pringle received a letter from India, informing
him that his cousin, Colonel Armour, had died at Hydrabad, and left him
his residuary legatee. The same post brought other letters on the same
subject from the agent of the deceased in London, by which it was evident
to the whole family that no time should be lost in looking after their
interests in the hands of such brief and abrupt correspondents. "To say
the least of it," as the Doctor himself sedately remarked, "considering the
greatness of the forth-coming property, Messieurs Richard Argent and
Company, of New Broad Street, might have given a notion as to the
particulars of the residue." It was therefore determined that, as soon as
the requisite arrangements could be made, the Doctor and Mrs. Pringle
should set out for the metropolis, to obtain a speedy settlement with the
agents, and, as Rachel had now, to use an expression of her mother\'s, "a
prospect before her," that she also should accompany them: Andrew,
who had just been called to the Bar, and who had come to the manse to
spend a few days after attaining that distinction, modestly suggested, that,
considering the various professional points which might be involved in the
objects of his father\'s journey, and considering also the retired life which
his father had led in the rural village of Garnock, it might be of importance
to have the advantage of legal advice.