FORGED WILL, FALSE HEIR

The Orley Farm Case is over -- but there are complications.

According to a codicil in his will Sir Joseph Mason left Orley Farm to the son, Lucius Mason. But the codicil is in the handwriting of Lady Mason, a young woman who Sir Joseph married when he was seventy.

Joseph Mason, Esq., country gentleman -- owner of Groby Park in Yorkshire thanks to his wealthy father -- wanted Orley Farm farm as well. He contested the will -- but lost.

Twenty years on, Lucius Mason returns from University to Orley Farm, determined to exercise new scientific methods of farming on fields leased cheaply to Samuel Dockwrath, a shady attorney.

Enraged, Dockwrath checks old papers -- and discovers that the codicil on Sir Joseph Mason's will might be a forgery. He goes to Groby Park, confers with Joseph Mason Esq.

The case is reopened with startling complications.

With romantic sub-plots, the second volume of Orley Farm completes this great Victorian story