Samuel Greer sheered off as the cousinly interview ended, well
satisfied with himself. Ten pounds was a fortune to him, and he meant
having a good deal more. He did nothing further till the following
morning, when he presented himself at the shop of Jarvis Flint.
"Good mornin', Mr. Flint," said Samuel Greer, grinning and squinting
affably. "I couldn't help noticin' as you had a few words yesterday
with Mr. Cater after the sad loss."
"Well?"
"It 'appens as I've seen the will as Mr. Cater was talkin' of, an' I
thought p'raps it 'ud save you makin' mistakes if I told you of it."
"What about it?" Jarvis Flint was not disposed to accept Greer
altogether on trust.
"Well it _do_ seem a scandalous thing, certainly, but what Mr. Cater
said was right. He _do_ take the personal property, subjick to debts,
an' he do take the freehold prim'ses. An' he is the 'xecutor."
"Was the will witnessed?"
"Yes--two waterside chaps well know'd there-abouts."
"Was it made by a lawyer?"
"No--all in the lamented corpse's 'andwritin'."
"Umph!" Flint maintained his hard stare in Greer's face. "Anything
else?"
"Well, no, Mr. Flint, sir, p'raps not. But I wonder if there might be
sich a thing as a codicil?"
"Is there?"
"Oh, I was a-wonderin', that's all. It might make a deal o' difference
in the will, mightn't it? And p'raps Mr. Cater mightn't know anythink
about the codicil."
"What do you mean? Is there a codicil?"
"Well, reely, Mr. Flint," answered Greer with a deprecatory
grin--"reely it ain't business to give information for nothink, is it?"
"Business or not, if you know anything you'll find you'll have to tell
it. I'm not going to let Cater have it all his own way, if he _is_
executor. My lawyer'll be on the job before you're a day older, my
man, and you won't find it pay to keep things too quiet."
"But it can't pay worse than to give information for nothink,"
persisted Greer. "Come, now, Mr. Flint, s'pose (I don't say there is,
mind--I only say _s'pose_)--s'pose there _was_ a codicil, and s'pose
that codicil meant a matter of a few thousand pound in your pocket.
And s'pose some person could tell you where to put your hand on that
codicil, what might you be disposed to pay that person?"
"Bring me the codicil," answered Flint, "and if it's all right I'll
give you--well, say five shillings."
Greer grinned again and shook his head. "No, reely, Mr. Flint," he
said, "we can't do business on terms like them. Fifty pound down in my
hand now, and it's done. Fifty 'ud be dirt cheap. And the longer you
are a-considerin'--well, you know, Mr. Cater might get hold of it, and
then, why, s'pose it got burnt and never 'eard of agen?"
Flint glared with round eyes. "You get out!" he said. "Go on! Fifty
pound, indeed! Fifty pound, without my knowing whether you're telling
lies or not! Out you go! I know what to do now, my man!"
Greer grinned once more, and slouched out. He had not expected to
bring Flint to terms at once. Of course the man would drive him away
at first, and, having got scent of the existence of the codicil,
and supposing it to be somewhere concealed about the old house at
Bermondsey Wall, he would set his lawyer to warn his cousin that the
thing was known, and that he, as executor, would be held responsible
for it. But the trump card, the codicil itself, was carefully stowed in
the lining of Greer's hat, and Cater knew nothing about it. Presently
Flint, finding Cater obdurate, would approach the wily Greer again, and
then he could be squeezed. Meanwhile the hat-lining was as safe a place
as any in which to keep the paper. Perhaps Flint might take a fancy to
have him waylaid at night and searched, in which case a pocket would be
an unsafe repository.
Flint, on his part, was in good spirits. Plainly there _was_ a codicil,
favourable to himself. Certainly he meant neither to pay Greer for
discovering it--at any rate no such sum as fifty pounds--nor to abate a
jot of his rights. Flint had a running contract with a shady solicitor,
named Lugg, in accordance with which Lugg received a yearly payment
and transacted all his legal business--consisting chiefly of writing
threatening letters to unfortunate debtors. Also, as I think I have
mentioned, Dorrington was working for him at the time, and working at
very cheap rates. Flint resolved, to begin with, to set Dorrington
and Lugg to work. But first Dorrington--who, as a matter of fact, was
in Flint's back office during the interview with Greer. Thus it was
that in an hour or two Dorrington found himself in active pursuit of
Samuel Greer, with instructions to watch him closely, to make him drunk
if possible, and to get at his knowledge of the codicil by any means
conceivable.