seemingly mechanical. But are the points of a sort that you could make
clear in court to the satisfaction of a jury?'
'I think so. Look here, for example. Certain letters get habitually
mixed up in typewriting; _c_ and _v_ stand next one another on the
keyboard of the machine, and the person who typed this draft sometimes
strikes a _c_ instead of a _v_, or _vice versa_. I never do that. The
letters I tend to confuse are _s_ and _w_, or else _e_ and _r_, which
also come very near one another in the arbitrary arrangement. Besides,
when I type-wrote the original of this will, I made no errors at all; I
took such very great pains about it.'
'And this person did make errors?'
'Yes; struck the wrong letter first, and then corrected it often by
striking another rather hard on top of it. See, this was a _v_ to begin
with, and he turned it into a _c_. Besides, the hand that wrote this
will is heavier than mine: it comes down _thump_, _thump_, _thump_,
while mine glides lightly. And the hyphens are used with a space between
them, and the character of the punctuation is not exactly as I make it.'
'Still,' Mr. Hayes objected, 'we have nothing but your word. I'm afraid,
in such a case, we could never induce a jury to accept your unsupported
evidence.'
'I don't want them to accept it,' I answered. 'I am looking this up for
my own satisfaction. I want to know, first, who wrote this will. And of
one thing I am quite clear: it is _not_ the document I drew up for Mr.
Ashurst. Just look at that _x_. The _x_ alone is conclusive. My
typewriter had the upper right-hand stroke of the small _x_ badly
formed, or broken, while this one is perfect. I remember it well,
because I used always to improve all my lower-case _x_'s with a pen when
I re-read and corrected. I see their dodge clearly now. It is a most
diabolical conspiracy. Instead of forging a will in Lord Southminster's
favour, they have substituted a forgery for the real will, and then
managed to make my poor Harold prove it.'
'In that case, no doubt, they have destroyed the real one, the
original,' Mr. Hayes put in.
'I don't think so,' I answered, after a moment's deliberation. 'From
what I know of Mr. Ashurst, I don't believe it is likely he would have
left his will about carelessly anywhere. He was a secretive man, fond of
mysteries and mystifications. He would be sure to conceal it. Besides,
Lady Georgina and Harold have been taking care of everything in the
house ever since he died.'
'But,' Mr. Hayes objected, 'the forger of this document, supposing it to
be forged, must have had access to the original, since you say the terms
of the two are identical; only the signatures are forgeries. And if he
saw and copied it, why might he not also have destroyed it?'
A light flashed across me all at once. 'The forger _did_ see the
original,' I cried, 'but not the fair copy. I have it all now! I detect
their trick! It comes back to me vividly! When I had finished typing the
copy at Florence from my first rough draft, which I had taken down on
the machine before Mr. Ashurst's eyes, I remember now that I threw the
original into the waste-paper basket. It must have been there that
evening when Higginson called and asked for the will to take it back to
Mr. Ashurst. He called for it, no doubt, hoping to open the packet
before he delivered it and make a copy of the document for this very
purpose. But I refused to let him have it. Before he saw me, however,
he had been left by himself for ten minutes in the office; for I
remember coming out to him and finding him there alone: and during that
ten minutes, being what he is, you may be sure he fished out the rough
draft and appropriated it!'
[Illustration: WE SHALL HAVE HIM IN OUR POWER.]
'That is more than likely,' my solicitor nodded. 'You are tracking him
to his lair. We shall have him in our power.'
I grew more and more excited as the whole cunning plot unravelled itself
mentally step by step before me. 'He must then have gone to Lord
Southminster,' I went on, 'and told him of the legacy he expected from
Mr. Ashurst. It was five hundred pounds--a mere trifle to Higginson, who
plays for thousands. So he must have offered to arrange matters for Lord
Southminster if Southminster would consent to make good that sum and a
great deal more to him. That odious little cad told me himself on the
_Jumna_ they were engaged in pulling off "a big _coup_" between them. He
thought then I would marry him, and that he would so secure my
connivance in his plans; but who would marry such a piece of moist clay?
Besides, I could never have taken anyone but Harold.' Then another clue
came home to me. 'Mr. Hayes,' I cried, jumping at it, 'Higginson, who
forged this will, never saw the real document itself at all; he saw only
the draft: for Mr. Ashurst altered one word _viva voce_ in the original
at the last moment, and I made a pencil note of it on my cuff at the
time: and see, it isn't here, though I inserted it in the final clean
copy of the will--the word 'especially.' It grows upon me more and more
each minute that the real instrument is hidden somewhere in Mr.
Ashurst's house--Harold's house--our house; and that _because_ it is
there Lord Southminster is so indecently anxious to oust his aunt and
take instant possession.'
'In that case,' Mr. Hayes remarked, 'we had better go back to Lady
Georgina without one minute's delay, and, while she still holds the
house, institute a thorough search for it.'
No sooner said than done. We jumped again into our cab and started. As
we drove back, Mr. Hayes asked me where I thought we were most likely to
find it.
'In a secret drawer in Mr. Ashurst's desk,' I answered, by a flash of
instinct, without a second's hesitation.
'How do you know there's a secret drawer?'
'I don't know it. I infer it from my general knowledge of Mr. Ashurst's
character. He loved secret drawers, ciphers, cryptograms,
mystery-mongering.'
'But it was in that desk that your husband found the forged document,'
the lawyer objected.
Once more I had a flash of inspiration or intuition. 'Because White, Mr.
Ashurst's valet, had it in readiness in his possession,' I answered,
'and hid it there, in the most obvious and unconcealed place he could
find, as soon as the breath was out of his master's body. I remember now
Lord Southminster gave himself away to some extent in that matter. The
hateful little creature isn't really clever enough, for all his
cunning,--and with Higginson to back him,--to mix himself up in such
tricks as forgery. He told me at Aden he had had a telegram from
"Marmy's valet," to report progress; and he received another, the night
Mr. Ashurst died, at Moozuffernuggar. Depend upon it, White was more or
less in this plot; Higginson left him the forged will when they started
for India; and, as soon as Mr. Ashurst died, White hid it where Harold
was bound to find it.'
'If so,' Mr. Hayes answered, 'that's well; we have something to go upon.
The more of them, the better. There is safety in numbers--for the honest
folk. I never knew three rogues hold long together, especially when
threatened with a criminal prosecution. Their confederacy breaks down
before the chance of punishment. Each tries to screen himself by
betraying the others.'
'Higginson was the soul of this plot,' I went on. 'Of that you may be
sure. He's a wily old fox, but we'll run him to earth yet. The more I
think of it, the more I feel sure, from what I know of Mr. Ashurst's
character, he would never have put that will in so exposed a place as
the one where Harold says he found it.'
We drew up at the door of the disputed house just in time for the siege.
Mr. Hayes and I walked in. We found Lady Georgina face to face with Lord
Southminster. The opposing forces were still at the stage of
preliminaries of warfare.
'Look heah,' the pea-green young man was observing, in his drawling
voice, as we entered; 'it's no use your talking, deah Georgey. This
house is mine, and I won't have you meddling with it.'
'This house is not yours, you odious little scamp,' his aunt retorted,
raising her shrill voice some notes higher than usual; 'and while I can
hold a stick you shall not come inside it.'
'Very well, then; you drive me to hostilities, don't yah know. I'm sorry
to show disrespect to your gray hairs--if any--but I shall be obliged to
call in the police to eject yah.'
'Call them in if you like,' I answered, interposing between them. 'Go
out and get them! Mr. Hayes, while he's gone, send for a carpenter to
break open the back of Mr. Ashurst's escritoire.'
'A carpentah?' he cried, turning several degrees whiter than his pasty
wont. 'What for? A carpentah?'
I spoke distinctly. 'Because we have reason to believe Mr. Ashurst's
real will is concealed in this house in a secret drawer, and because the
keys were in the possession of White, whom we believe to be your
accomplice in this shallow conspiracy.'
He gasped and looked alarmed. 'No, you don't,' he cried, stepping
briskly forward. 'You don't, I tell yah! Break open Marmy's desk! Why,
hang it all, it's my property.'
'We shall see about that after we've broken it open,' I answered grimly.
'Here, this screw-driver will do. The back's not strong. Now, your help,
Mr. Hayes--one, two, three; we can prise it apart between us.'
Lord Southminster rushed up and tried to prevent us. But Lady Georgina,
seizing both wrists, held him tight as in a vice with her dear skinny
old hands. He writhed and struggled all in vain: he could not escape
her. 'I've often spanked you, Bertie,' she cried, 'and if you attempt to
interfere, I'll spank you again; that's the long and the short of it!'
He broke from her and rushed out, to call the police, I believe, and
prevent our desecration of pooah Marmy's property.
[Illustration: VICTORY.]
Inside the first shell were several locked drawers, and two or three
open ones, out of one of which Harold had fished the false will.
Instinct taught me somehow that the central drawer on the left-hand side
was the compartment behind which lay the secret receptacle. I prised it
apart and peered about inside it. Presently I saw a slip-panel, which I
touched with one finger. The pigeon-hole flew open and disclosed a
narrow slit I clutched at something--the will! Ho, victory! the will! I
raised it aloft with a wild shout. Not a doubt of it! The real, the
genuine document!
We turned it over and read it. It was my own fair copy, written at
Florence, and bearing all the small marks of authenticity about it which
I had pointed out to Mr. Hayes as wanting to the forged and impounded
document. Fortunately, Lady Georgina and four of the servants had stood
by throughout this scene, and had watched our demeanour, as well as Lord
Southminster's.
We turned next to the signatures. The principal one was clearly Mr.
Ashurst's-- I knew it at once--his legible fat hand, 'Marmaduke Courtney
Ashurst.' And then the witnesses? They fairly took our breath away.
'Why, Higginson's sister isn't one of them at all,' Mr. Hayes cried,
astonished.
A flush of remorse came over me. I saw it all now. I had misjudged that
poor woman! She had the misfortune to be a rogue's sister, but, as
Harold had said, was herself a most respectable and blameless person.
Higginson must have forged her name to the document; that was all; and
she had naturally sworn that she never signed it. He knew her honesty.
It was a master-stroke of rascality.
'The other one isn't here, either,' I exclaimed, growing more puzzled.
'The waiter at the hotel! Why, that's another forgery! Higginson must
have waited till the man was safely dead, and then used him similarly.
It was all very clever. Now, who are these people who really witnessed
it?'
'The first one,' Mr. Hayes said, examining the handwriting, 'is Sir
Roger Bland, the Dorsetshire baronet: he's dead, poor fellow; but he
was at Florence at the time, and I can answer for his signature. He was
a client of mine, and died at Mentone. The second is Captain Richards,
of the Mounted Police: he's living still, but he's away in South
Africa.'
'Then they risked his turning up?'
'If they knew who the real witnesses were at all--which is doubtful. You
see, as you say, they may have seen the rough draft only.'
'Higginson would know,' I answered. 'He was with Mr. Ashurst at Florence
at the time, and he would take good care to keep a watch upon his
movements. In my belief, it was he who suggested this whole plot to Lord
Southminster.'
'Of course it was,' Lady Georgina put in. 'That's absolutely certain.
Bertie's a rogue as well as a fool: but he's too great a fool to invent
a clever roguery, and too great a knave not to join in it foolishly when
anybody else takes the pains to invent it.'
'And it _was_ a clever roguery,' Mr. Hayes interposed. 'An ordinary
rascal would have forged a later will in Lord Southminster's favour and
run the risk of detection; Higginson had the acuteness to forge a will
exactly like the real one, and to let your husband bear the burden of
the forgery. It was as sagacious as it was ruthless.'
'The next point,' I said, 'will be for us to prove it.'
At that moment the bell rang, and one of the house-servants--all puzzled
by this conflict of interests--came in with a telegram, which he handed
me on a salver. I broke it open, without glancing at the envelope. Its
contents baffled me: 'My address is Hotel Bristol, Paris; name as usual.
Send me a thousand pounds on account at once. I can't afford to wait. No
shillyshallying.'
The message was unsigned. For a moment, I couldn't imagine who sent it,
or what it was driving at.
Then I took up the envelope. 'Viscount Southminster, 24 Park Lane North,
London.'
My heart gave a jump. I saw in a second that chance, or Providence, had
delivered the conspirators into my hands that day. The telegram was from
Higginson! I had opened it by accident.
It was obvious what had happened. Lord Southminster must have written to
him on the result of the trial, and told him he meant to take possession
of his uncle's house immediately. Higginson had acted on that hint, and
addressed his telegram where he thought it likely Lord Southminster
would receive it earliest. I had opened it in error, and that, too, was
fortunate, for even in dealing with such a pack of scoundrels, it would
never have occurred to me to violate somebody else's correspondence had
I not thought it was addressed to me. But having arrived at the truth
thus unintentionally, I had, of course, no scruples about making full
use of my information.
I showed the despatch at once to Lady Georgina and Mr. Hayes. They
recognised its importance. 'What next?' I inquired. 'Time presses. At
half-past three Harold comes up for examination at Bow Street.'
Mr. Hayes was ready with an apt expedient. 'Ring the bell for Mr.
Ashurst's valet,' he said, quietly. 'The moment has now arrived when we
can begin to set these conspirators by the ears. As soon as they learn
that we know all, they will be eager to inform upon one another.'
I rang the bell. 'Send up White,' I said. 'We wish to speak to him.'
The valet stole up, self-accused, a timid, servile creature, rubbing his
hands nervously, and suspecting mischief. He was a rat in trouble. He
had thin brown hair, neatly brushed and plastered down, so as to make it
look still thinner, and his face was the average narrow cunning face of
the dishonest man-servant. It had an ounce of wile in it to a pound or
two of servility. He seemed just the sort of rogue meanly to join in an
underhand conspiracy, and then meanly to back out of it. You could read
at a glance that his principle in life was to save his own bacon.
[Illustration: YOU WISHED TO SEE ME, SIR?]
He advanced, fumbling his hands all the time, and smiling and fawning.
'You wished to see me, sir?' he murmured, in a deprecatory voice,
looking sideways at Lady Georgina and me, but addressing the lawyer.
'Yes, White, I wished to see you. I have a question to ask you. _Who_
put the forged will in Mr. Ashurst's desk? Was it you, or some other
person?'
The question terrified him. He changed colour and gasped. But he rubbed
his hands harder than ever and affected a sickly smile. 'Oh, sir, how
should _I_ know, sir? _I_ had nothing to do with it. I suppose--it was
Mr. Tillington.'
Our lawyer pounced upon him like a hawk on a titmouse. 'Don't
prevaricate with me, sir,' he said, sternly. 'If you do, it may be worse
for you. This case has assumed quite another aspect. It is you and your
associates who will be placed in the dock, not Mr. Tillington. You had
better speak the truth; it is your one chance, I warn you. Lie to me,
and instead of calling you as a witness for our case, I shall include
you in the indictment.'
White looked down uneasily at his shoes, and cowered. 'Oh, sir, I don't
understand you.'
'Yes you do. You understand me, and you know I mean it. Wriggling is
useless; we intend to prosecute. We have unravelled this vile plot. We
know the whole truth. Higginson and Lord Southminster forged a will
between them----'
'Oh, sir, _not_ Lord Southminster! His lordship, I'm sure----'
Mr. Hayes's keen eye had noted the subtle shade of distinction and
admission. But he said nothing openly. 'Well, then, Higginson forged,
and Lord Southminster accepted, a false will, which purported to be Mr.
Marmaduke Ashurst's. Now, follow me clearly. That will could not have
been put into the escritoire during Mr. Ashurst's life, for there would
have been risk of his discovering it. It must, therefore, have been put
there afterward. The moment he was dead, you, or somebody else with your
consent and connivance, slipped it into the escritoire; and you
afterwards showed Mr. Tillington the place where you had set it or seen
it set, leading him to believe it was Mr. Ashurst's will, and so
involved him in all this trouble. Note that that was a felonious act. We
accuse you of felony. Do you mean to confess, and give evidence on our
behalf, or will you force me to send for a policeman to arrest you?'
The cur hesitated still. 'Oh, sir,' drawing back, and fumbling his hands
on his breast, 'you don't mean it.'
Mr. Hayes was prompt. 'Hesslegrave, go for a policeman.'
That curt sentence brought the rogue on his marrow-bones at once. He
clasped his hands and debated inwardly. 'If I tell you all I know,' he
said, at last, looking about him with an air of abject terror, as if he
thought Lord Southminster or Higginson would hear him, 'will you promise
not to prosecute me?' His tone became insinuating. 'For a hundred
pounds, I could find the real will for you. You'd better close with me.
To-day is the last chance. As soon as his lordship comes in, he'll hunt
it up and destroy it.'
I flourished it before him, and pointed with one hand to the broken
desk, which he had not yet observed in his craven agitation.
'We do not need your aid,' I answered. 'We have found the will,
ourselves. Thanks to Lady Georgina, it is safe till this minute.'
'And to me,' he put in, cringing, and trying after his kind, to curry
favour with the winners at the last moment. 'It's all _my_ doing, my
lady! I wouldn't destroy it. His lordship offered me a hundred pounds
more to break open the back of the desk at night, while your ladyship
was asleep, and burn the thing quietly. But I told him he might do his
own dirty work if he wanted it done. It wasn't good enough while your
ladyship was here in possession. Besides, I wanted the right will
preserved, for I thought things might turn up so; and I wouldn't stand
by and see a gentleman like Mr. Tillington, as has always behaved well
to me, deprived of his inheritance.'
'Which is why you conspired with Lord Southminster to rob him of it, and
to send him to prison for Higginson's crime,' I interposed calmly.
'Then you confess you put the forged will there?' Mr. Hayes said,
getting to business.
White looked about him helplessly. He missed his headpiece, the
instigator of the plot. 'Well, it was like this, my lady,' he began,
turning to Lady Georgina, and wriggling to gain time. 'You see, his
lordship and Mr. Higginson----' he twirled his thumbs and tried to
invent something plausible.
Lady Georgina swooped. 'No rigmarole!' she said, sharply. 'Do you
confess you put it there or do you not--reptile?' Her vehemence startled
him.
'Yes, I confess I put it there,' he said at last, blinking. 'As soon as
the breath was out of Mr. Ashurst's body I put it there.' He began to
whimper. 'I'm a poor man with a wife and family, sir,' he went on,
'though in Mr. Ashurst's time I always kep' that quiet; and his lordship
offered to pay me well for the job; and when you're paid well for a job
yourself, sir----'
Mr. Hayes waved him off with one imperious hand. 'Sit down in the corner
there, man, and don't move or utter another word,' he said, sternly,
'until I order you. You will be in time still for me to produce at Bow
Street.'
Just at that moment, Lord Southminster swaggered back, accompanied by a
couple of unwilling policemen. 'Oh, I say,' he cried, bursting in and
staring around him, jubilant. 'Look heah, Georgey, _are_ you going
quietly, or must I ask these coppahs to evict you?' He was wreathed in
smiles now, and had evidently been fortifying himself with brandies and
soda.
Lady Georgina rose in her wrath. 'Yes, I'll go if you wish it, Bertie,'
she answered, with calm irony. 'I'll leave the house as soon as you
like--for the present--till we come back again with Harold and _his_
policemen to evict you. This house is Harold's. Your game is played,
boy.' She spoke slowly. 'We have found the other will--we have
discovered Higginson's present address in Paris--and we know from White
how he and you arranged this little conspiracy.'
[Illustration: WELL, THIS IS A FAIR KNOCK-OUT, HE EJACULATED.]
She rapped out each clause in this last accusing sentence with
deliberate effect, like so many pistol-shots. Each bullet hit home. The
pea-green young man, drawing back and staring, stroked his shadowy
moustache with feeble fingers in undisguised astonishment. Then he
dropped into a chair and fixed his gaze blankly on Lady Georgina. 'Well,
this is a fair knock-out,' he ejaculated, fatuously disconcerted. 'I
wish Higginson was heah. I really don't quite know what to do without
him. That fellah had squared it all up so neatly, don't yah know, that I
thought there couldn't be any sort of hitch in the proceedings.'
'You reckoned without Lois,' Lady Georgina said, calmly.
'Ah, Miss Cayley--that's true. I mean, Mrs. Tillington. Yaas, yaas, I
know, she's a doosid clevah person--for a woman,--now isn't she?'
It was impossible to take this flabby creature seriously, even as a
criminal. Lady Georgina's lips relaxed. 'Doosid clever,' she admitted,
looking at me almost tenderly.
'But not quite so clevah, don't yah know, as Higginson!'
'There you make your blooming little erraw,' Mr. Hayes burst in,
adopting one of Lord Southminster's favourite witticisms--the sort of
witticism that improves, like poetry, by frequent repetition.
'Policemen, you may go into the next room and wait: this is a family
affair; we have no immediate need of you.'
'Oh, certainly,' Lord Southminster echoed, much relieved. 'Very propah
sentiment! Most undesirable that the constables should mix themselves up
in a family mattah like this. Not the place for inferiahs!'
'Then why introduce them?' Lady Georgina burst out, turning on him.
He smiled his fatuous smile. 'That's just what I say,' he answered. 'Why
the jooce introduce them? But don't snap my head off!'
The policemen withdrew respectfully, glad to be relieved of this
unpleasant business, where they could gain no credit, and might possibly
involve themselves in a charge of assault. Lord Southminster rose with a
benevolent grin, and looked about him pleasantly. The brandies and soda
had endowed him with irrepressible cheerfulness.
'Well?' Lady Georgina murmured.
'Well, I think I'll leave now, Georgey. You've trumped my ace, yah know.
Nasty trick of White to go and round on a fellah. I don't like the turn
this business is taking. Seems to me, the only way I have left to get
out of it is--to turn Queen's evidence.'
Lady Georgina planted herself firmly against the door. 'Bertie,' she
cried, 'no, you don't--not till we've got what we want out of you!'