"I hope not, sir--I hope not, indeed," cried Mr. Ezra.
Dr. Lavendar laughed; he had the impulse to turn round and wink at
Johnny, to take him into the joke. But it was only for an instant, and
his face fell quickly into puzzled lines.
"A moment's reflection," Mr. Ezra continued, "will convince you, Dr.
Lavendar, that the aforesaid account-book is now the property, not of
the deceased, but of the estate. Its destruction would be the
destruction of property belonging to the heirs. Furthermore, your
belief that the herein before mentioned account-book might be put to an
improper use, for the injury of a third person--such belief would no
more justify you in destroying it than would your belief in its
unfairness towards said third person justify you in destroying a will."
Dr. Lavendar thrust out his lower lip and stared at him, frowning.
"Yes," he said, slowly--"yes; I see. I did not quite understand. But
I see."
Mr. Ezra solemnly began to pour forth a stream of statistics; he
referred to the case of Buckley vs. Grant, and even mentioned chapter
and page of _Purdon's Digest_ where Dr. Lavendar could find further
enlightenment. Dr. Lavendar may have listened, but he made no comment;
he sat staring silently at the old purple handkerchief on the top of
John's chair.
When Mr. Ezra had finished his work and his statistics, the two men
shook hands; then Dr. Lavendar said good-bye to Rachel and climbed into
his buggy, buttoning the apron high up in front of him; the lawyer
mounted his horse, and they plodded off into the snow, single file.
But Dr. Lavendar's eyes, under his old fur cap, had lost their
squirrel-like brightness....
So Algy's note belonged to the estate; and the estate belonged to Alex;
and Alex was the executor. And upon Alex Gordon his father's
intentions in regard to Algy's note would make no more impression than
the flakes of snow on running water. A vision of Alex's mean and cruel
mouth, his hard, light eyes, motionless as a snake's in his purpling
face, made Dr. Lavendar wince. The note--the poor, shabby, worn
note,--that stood for the best there was in Algy, that stood for
perseverance and honesty and courage; the note, which had weighed so
heavily that he had had to stand up in his pitiful best manhood to bear
it: the note that John had meant to "forgive"--Alex would use to
humiliate and torture and destroy. Under the pressure which he would
bring to bear that note would be poor Algy's financial, and perhaps his
moral, ruin. "And if I had not objected, John would have cancelled
it," Dr. Lavendar thought, frowning and blinking under his fur cap. He
saw the smoking flax quenched, the bruised reed broken; he saw Algy
turning venomously upon his enemy--for he knew him well enough to know
that his code of defence would not include any conventional delicacy;
he saw the new and hardly won integrity crumbling under the assault of
Alex's legal wickedness. Dr. Lavendar groaned to himself. Alex could,
lawfully, murder Algernon Keen's soul.
When Mary saw the old minister come into the house she was much
displeased. "There, now, look at him," she scolded; "white as a sheet.
What did I tell you? I'll bet ye he won't eat them corn dodgers, and I
never made 'em finer."
It must be admitted that Mary was right. Dr. Lavendar did not eat much
supper. He went shuffling back to his study, Danny slinking at his
heels; but for once he did not notice his little, grizzled friend.
When he got into his flowered cashmere dressing-gown and put on his
slippers and stirred his fire, he sat a long time with his pipe in his
hand, forgetting to light it. When he did light it, it went out,
unnoticed. Once Danny tried to scramble into his chair, but, receiving
no encouragement, curled up on the rug. The fire burned low and
smouldered into ashes; just one sullen, red coal blinked in a corner of
the grate; Dr. Lavendar watched this red spot fixedly for a long time.
Indeed, it was well on towards twelve before he suddenly reached over
for the bellows and a couple of sticks, and, bending down, stirred and
blew until the sticks caught and the cinders began to sparkle under the
ashes. This disturbed Danny, who sat up, displeased and yawning. But
when at last the flames broke out, sputtering and snapping, and caught
a piece of paper--a shabby, creased piece of paper covered with
dates--caught it, ran over it, curling it into brittle blackness, and
then whirled it, a flimsy, crumbling ghost, up the chimney, Dr.
Lavendar's face shone with a light that was not only from the fire.
"Ha, Danny, you scoundrel," he said, cheerfully, "I guess you are
_particeps criminis_!"
Then he went over to his study-table and rooted about for a thin,
shabby, blue book, over which he pored for some time, stopping once or
twice to make some calculations on the back of an envelope, then
turning to the book again. He covered the envelope with his small,
neat figuring, and turned it over to begin on the other side--and
started: "Johnny's letter!" he said. But when the calculations were
made, the rest was easy enough: first, his check-book and his pen. (At
the check he looked with some pride. "Daniel," he said, "look at that,
sir. You never saw so much money in your life; and neither did I--over
my own signature.") Next, a letter to Alex Gordon:
"MY DEAR ALEXANDER,--I owe your father's estate to the amount of the
enclosed check. No papers exist in regard to it, as the matter was
between ourselves. I will ask you for a receipt. Yours truly,
"EDWARD LAVENDAR."