CHAPTER VI
THE LAWYER
The answer was an unexpectedly sensible one.
"Hunt up her man of business and see what he can do for you. She cannotget along without money; nor could that statement of hers have got intothe papers without somebody's assistance. Since she did not get it fromthe fellow we have just left, she must have had it from the only otherperson 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. Ransomwere of a purely business and confidential nature. But by degrees, movedby the persuasive influence of Mr. Ransom's candor and his indubitableright 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 believethat there was a twin sister in the case and that all Mrs. Ransom'seccentric conduct was attributable to this fact and the overpoweringsense of responsibility which it seemed to have brought to her--a resultwhich would not appear strange to those who knew the sensitiveness of hernature and the delicate balance of her mind.
Mr. Ransom recalled the tenor of her strange letter on this subject, butwas not convinced. He inquired of Mr. Harper if he had heard her sayanything about the equally astounding fact of a returned brother, andwhen he found that this was mere jargon to Mr. Harper, he related what heknew of Hazen and left the lawyer to draw his own inferences.
The result was some show of embarrassment on the part of Mr. Harper. Itwas evident that in her consultations with him she had entirely left outall allusion to this brother. Either the man had advanced a false claimor else she was in an irresponsible condition of mind which made her seea sister where there was a brother.
Ransom made some remark indicative of his appreciation of the dilemma inwhich they found themselves, but was quickly silenced by the other'semphatic 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. Ransomexplained why. They were too absurdly alike, she said. It awoke commentand it gave her the creeps. But their figures were identical though theirdresses 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 upfor 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 marriedstate, she said, and wished to make a legal disposition of her propertybefore she returned to you. She was very nervous when she said this; verynervous through all the interview. There was nothing else for me to dobut 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 aninstant appeared to waver. There was something very winsome about RogerRansom; some attribute or expression which appealed especially to men.
"I wish I might help you out of your difficulty," said he. "But aclient's wishes are paramount. Mrs. Ransom desired secrecy. She had everyright to demand it of me."
Mr. Ransom's face fell. Hope had flashed upon him only to disappearagain. The lawyer eyed him out of the corner of his eye, his mouthworking 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, ifyou prefer it, a brother who has so inconveniently come back from thedead. You will have the pleasure of her society some day. There is nodoubt 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 somethingdecidedly wrong somewhere. Don't you see that I must have an immediateinterview with her if only to satisfy myself that she aggravates her owndanger? Why should she make a will in this underhanded way? Does she fearopposition from me? I have a fortune equal to her own. It is somethingelse she dreads. What? I feel that I ought to know if only to protect heragainst 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 anycommands that I can execute for you?"
"None but to give her my love. Tell her there is not a more unhappy manin New York; you may add that I trust her affection."
The lawyer bowed. Mr. Ransom and Gerridge withdrew. At the foot of thestairs they were stopped by the shout of a small boy behind them.
"Say, mister, did you drop something?" he called down, coming meanwhileas rapidly after them as the steepness of the flight allowed. "Mr. Harpersays, he found this where you gentlemen were sitting."
Mr. Ransom, somewhat startled, took the small paper offered him. It wasnone of his property but he held to it just the same. In the middle of atorn 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 lawyersare devoid of heart?"