THE LAWYER
The answer was an unexpectedly sensible one.
"Hunt up her man of business and see what he can do for you. She cannot
get along without money; nor could that statement of hers have got into
the papers without somebody's assistance. Since she did not get it from
the fellow we have just left, she must have had it from the only other
person she would dare confide in."
Ransom answered by immediately hailing a down-town car.
The interview which followed was certainly a remarkable one. At first Mr.
Harper would say nothing, declaring that his relations with Mrs. Ransom
were of a purely business and confidential nature. But by degrees, moved
by the persuasive influence of Mr. Ransom's candor and his indubitable
right to consideration, he allowed himself to admit that he had seen Mrs.
Ransom during the last three days and that he had every reason to believe
that there was a twin sister in the case and that all Mrs. Ransom's
eccentric conduct was attributable to this fact and the overpowering
sense of responsibility which it seemed to have brought to her--a result
which would not appear strange to those who knew the sensitiveness of her
nature and the delicate balance of her mind.
Mr. Ransom recalled the tenor of her strange letter on this subject, but
was not convinced. He inquired of Mr. Harper if he had heard her say
anything about the equally astounding fact of a returned brother, and
when he found that this was mere jargon to Mr. Harper, he related what he
knew of Hazen and left the lawyer to draw his own inferences.
The result was some show of embarrassment on the part of Mr. Harper. It
was evident that in her consultations with him she had entirely left out
all allusion to this brother. Either the man had advanced a false claim
or else she was in an irresponsible condition of mind which made her see
a sister where there was a brother.
Ransom made some remark indicative of his appreciation of the dilemma in
which they found themselves, but was quickly silenced by the other's
emphatic assertion:
"I have seen the girl; she was with Mrs. Ransom the day she came here.
She sat in the adjoining room while we talked over her case in this one."
"You saw her--saw her face?"
"No, not her face; she was too heavily veiled for that. Mrs. Ransom
explained why. They were too absurdly alike, she said. It awoke comment
and it gave her the creeps. But their figures were identical though their
dresses were different."
"So! there _is_ some one then; the girl is not absolutely a myth."
"Far from it. Nor is the will which Mrs. Ransom has asked me to draw up
for her a myth."
"Her will! she has asked you to draw up her will!"
"Yes. That was the object of her visit. She had entered the married
state, she said, and wished to make a legal disposition of her property
before she returned to you. She was very nervous when she said this; very
nervous through all the interview. There was nothing else for me to do
but comply."
"And you have drawn up this will?"
"According to her instructions, yes."
"But she has not signed it?"
"Not yet."
"But she intends to?"
"Certainly."
"Then you will see her again?"
"Naturally."
"_Is the time set?_"
The lawyer rose to his feet. He understood the hint implied and for an
instant appeared to waver. There was something very winsome about Roger
Ransom; some attribute or expression which appealed especially to men.
"I wish I might help you out of your difficulty," said he. "But a
client's wishes are paramount. Mrs. Ransom desired secrecy. She had every
right to demand it of me."
Mr. Ransom's face fell. Hope had flashed upon him only to disappear
again. The lawyer eyed him out of the corner of his eye, his mouth
working slightly as he walked to and fro between his desk and the door.
"Mrs. Ransom will not always feel herself hampered by a sister, or, if
you prefer it, a brother who has so inconveniently come back from the
dead. You will have the pleasure of her society some day. There is no
doubt about her affection for you."
"But that isn't it," exclaimed the now thoroughly discouraged husband.
"I am afraid for her reason, afraid for her life. There is something
decidedly wrong somewhere. Don't you see that I must have an immediate
interview with her if only to satisfy myself that she aggravates her own
danger? Why should she make a will in this underhanded way? Does she fear
opposition from me? I have a fortune equal to her own. It is something
else she dreads. What? I feel that I ought to know if only to protect her
against herself. I would even promise not to show myself or to speak."
"I am sorry to have to say good afternoon, Mr. Ransom. Have you any
commands that I can execute for you?"
"None but to give her my love. Tell her there is not a more unhappy man
in New York; you may add that I trust her affection."
The lawyer bowed. Mr. Ransom and Gerridge withdrew. At the foot of the
stairs they were stopped by the shout of a small boy behind them.
"Say, mister, did you drop something?" he called down, coming meanwhile
as rapidly after them as the steepness of the flight allowed. "Mr. Harper
says, he found this where you gentlemen were sitting."
Mr. Ransom, somewhat startled, took the small paper offered him. It was
none of his property but he held to it just the same. In the middle of a
torn bit of paper he had read these words written in his own wife's hand:
Hunter's Tavern,
Sitford, Connecticut.
At 9 o'clock April the 15th.
"By Jove!" he exclaimed, "no one will ever hear me say again that lawyers
are devoid of heart?"