GREEK AGAINST GREEK
At this direct question, Burchill, who had been standing on the
hearthrug since Barthorpe entered the room, turned away and took a seat
in the corner of a lounge opposite his visitor. He gave Barthorpe a
peculiarly searching look before he spoke, and as soon as he replied
Barthorpe knew that here was a man who was not readily to be drawn.
"Oh," said Burchill, "so I am supposed to have witnessed a will made by
Mr. Jacob Herapath, am I?"
Barthorpe made a gesture of impatience.
"Don't talk rot!" he said testily. "A man either knows that he witnessed
a will or knows that he didn't witness a will."
"Excuse me," returned Burchill, "I don't agree with that proposition. I
can imagine it quite possible that a man may think he has witnessed a
will when he has done nothing of the sort. I can also imagine it just as
possible that a man may have really witnessed a will when he thought he
was signing some much less important document. Of course, you're a
lawyer, and I'm not. But I believe that what I have just said is much
more in accordance with what we may call the truth of life than what
you've said."
"If a man sees another man sign a document and witnesses the signature
together with a third man who had been present throughout, what would
you say was being done?" asked Barthorpe, sneeringly. "Come, now?"
"I quite apprehend your meaning," replied Burchill. "You put it very
cleverly."
"Then why don't you answer my question?" demanded Barthorpe.
Burchill laughed softly.
"Why not answer mine?" he said. "However, I'll ask it in another and
more direct form. Have you seen my signature as witness to a will made
by Jacob Herapath?"
"Yes," replied Barthorpe.
"Are you sure it was my signature?" asked Burchill.
Barthorpe lifted his eyes and looked searchingly at his questioner. But
Burchill's face told him nothing. What was more, he was beginning to
feel that he was not going to get anything out of Burchill that Burchill
did not want to tell. He remained silent, and again Burchill laughed.
"You see," he said, "I can suppose all sorts of things. I can suppose,
for example, that there's such a thing as forging a signature--two
signatures--three signatures to a will--or, indeed, to any other
document. Don't you think that instead of asking me a direct question
like this that you'd better wait until this will comes before the--is it
the Probate Court?--and then let some of the legal gentlemen ask me if
that--that!--is my signature? I'm only putting it to you, you know. But
perhaps you'd like to tell me--all about it?" He paused, looking
carefully at Barthorpe, and as Barthorpe made no immediate answer, he
went on speaking in a lower, softer tone. "All about it," he repeated
insinuatingly. "Ah!"
Barthorpe suddenly flung his cigarette in the hearth with a gesture that
implied decision.
"I will!" he exclaimed. "It may be the shortest way out. Very
well--listen, then. I tell you my uncle was murdered at his office
about--well, somewhere between twelve and three o'clock this morning.
Naturally, after the preliminaries were over, I wanted to find out
if he'd made a will--naturally, I say."
"Naturally, you would," murmured Burchill.
"I didn't believe he had," continued Barthorpe. "But I examined his safe
at the office, and I was going to examine that in his study at Portman
Square when Tertius said in the presence of my cousin, myself, and
Selwood, your successor, that there was a will, and produced one from a
secret drawer in an old bureau----"
"A secret drawer in an old bureau!" murmured Burchill. "How deeply
interesting for all of you!--quite dramatic. Yes?"
"Which, on being inspected," continued Barthorpe, "proved to be a
holograph----"
"Pardon," interrupted Burchill, "a holograph? Now, I am very ignorant.
What is a holograph?"
"A holograph will is a will entirely written in the handwriting of the
person who makes it," replied Barthorpe.
"I see. So this was written out by Mr. Jacob Herapath, and witnessed
by--whom?" asked Burchill.
"Tertius as first witness, and you as second," answered Barthorpe. "Now
then, I've told you all about it. What are you going to tell me?
Come--did you witness this will or not? Good gracious, man!--don't you
see what a serious thing it is?"
"How can I when I don't know the contents of the will?" asked Burchill.
"You haven't told me that--yet."
Barthorpe swallowed an exclamation of rage.
"Contents!" he exclaimed. "He left everything--everything!--to my
cousin! Everything to her."
"And nothing to you," said Burchill, accentuating his habitual drawl.
"Really, how infernally inconsiderate! Yes--now I see that it is
serious. But--only for you."
Barthorpe glared angrily at him and began to growl, almost threateningly.
And Burchill spoke, soothingly and quietly.
"Don't," he said. "It does no good, you know. Serious--yes. Most
serious--for you, as I said. But remember--only serious for you if the
will is--good. Eh?"
Barthorpe jumped to his feet and thrust his hands in his pockets. He
began to pace the room.
"Hang me if I know what you mean, Burchill!" he said. "Is that your
signature on that will or not?"
"How can I say until I see it?" asked Burchill, with seeming innocence.
"Let's postpone matters until then. By the by, did Mr. Tertius say that
it was my signature?"
"What do you mean!" exclaimed Barthorpe. "Why, of course, he said that
he and you witnessed the will!"
"Ah, to be sure, he would say so," assented Burchill. "Of course.
Foolish of me to ask. It's quite evident that we must postpone matters
until this will is--what do you call it?--presented, propounded--what is
it?--for probate. Let's turn to something else. My letter to your uncle,
for instance. Of course, as you've got it, you've read it."
Barthorpe sat down again and stared.
"You're a cool customer, Master Burchill!" he said. "By Jove, you are!
You're playing some game. What is it?"
Burchill smiled deprecatingly.
"What's your own?" he asked. "Or, if that's too pointed a question at
present, suppose we go back to--my letter? Want to ask me anything about
it?"
Barthorpe again drew the letter from the case. He affected to re-read
it, while Burchill narrowly watched him.
"What," asked Barthorpe at last, "what was it that you wanted my uncle
to oblige you with? A loan?"
"If it's necessary to call it anything," replied Burchill suavely, "you
can call it a--well, say a donation. That sounds better--it's more
dignified."
"I don't suppose it matters much what it's called," said Barthorpe
drily. "I should say, from the tone of your letter, that most people
would call it----"
"Yes, but not polite people," interrupted Burchill, "and you and I
are--or must be--polite. So we'll say donation. The fact is, I want to
start a newspaper--weekly--devoted to the arts. I thought your
uncle--now, unfortunately, deceased--would finance it. I didn't want
much, you know."
"How much?" asked Barthorpe. "The amount isn't stated in this letter."
"It was stated in the two previous letters," replied Burchill. "Oh, not
much. Ten thousand."
"The price of your silence, eh?" suggested Barthorpe.
"Dirt cheap!" answered Burchill.
Barthorpe folded up the letter once more and put it away. He helped
himself to another cigarette and lighted it before he spoke again. Then
he leaned forward confidentially.
"What is the secret?" he asked.
Burchill stated and assumed an air of virtuous surprise.
"My dear fellow!" he said. "That's against all the rules--all the rules
of----"
"Of shady society," sneered Barthorpe. "Confound it, man, what do you
beat about the bush so much for? Hang it, I've a pretty good notion of
you, and I daresay you've your own of me. Why can't you tell me?"
"You forget that I offered not to tell for--ten thousand pounds," said
Burchill. "Therefore I should want quite as much for telling. If you
carry ten thousand in cash on you----"
"Is there a secret?" asked Barthorpe. "Sober earnest, now?"
"I have no objection to answering that question," replied Burchill.
"There is!"
"And you want ten thousand pounds for it?" suggested Barthorpe.
"Pardon me--I want a good deal more for it, under the present much
altered circumstances," said Burchill quietly. "There is an old saying
that circumstances alter cases. It's true--they do. I would have taken
ten thousand pounds from your uncle to hold my tongue--true. But--the
case is altered by his death."
Barthorpe pondered over this definite declaration for a minute or two.
Then, lowering his voice, he said:
"Looks uncommonly like--blackmail! And that----"
"Pardon me again," interrupted Burchill. "No blackmail at all--in my
view. I happen to possess information of a certain nature, and----"
Barthorpe interrupted in his turn.
"The thing is," he said, "the only thing is--how long are you and I
going to beat about the bush? Are you going to tell me if you signed
that will I told you of?"
"Certainly not before I've seen it," answered Burchill promptly.
"Will you tell me then?"
"That entirely depends."
"On--what?"
"Circumstances!"
"Have the circumstances got anything to do with this secret?"
"Everything! More than anything--now."
"Now--what?"
"Now that Jacob Herapath is dead. Look here!" continued Burchill,
leaning forward and speaking impressively. "Take my counsel. Leave this
for the moment and come to see me--now, when? Tonight. Come tonight.
I've nothing to do. Come at ten o'clock. Then--I'll be in a position to
say a good deal more. How will that do?"
"That'll do," answered Barthorpe after a moment's consideration.
"Tonight, here, at ten o 'clock."
He got up and made for the door. Burchill got up too, and for a moment
both men glanced at each other. Then Burchill spoke.
"I suppose you've no idea who murdered your uncle?" he said.
"Not the slightest!" exclaimed Barthorpe. "Have you?"
"None! Of course--the police are on the go?"
"Oh, of course!"
"All right," said Burchill. "Tonight, then."
He opened the door for his visitor, nodded to him, as he passed out, and
when he had gone sat down in the easy chair which Barthorpe had vacated
and for half an hour sat immobile, thinking. At the end of that
half-hour he rose, went into his bedroom, made an elaborate toilet, went
out, found a taxi-cab, and drove off to Portman Square.