Cynthia Wakeham's Money

  IV.

  FLINT AND STEEL.

  "Greatly startled, I drew back from the bed which but a moment beforehad been the scene of such mingled emotions.

  "'All is over here,' said I, and turned to follow the man whom with herlatest breath she had bidden me to stop from leaving the house.

  "As I could not take the lamp and leave my companions in darkness, Istepped out into a dark hall; but before I had taken a half dozen stepsI heard a cautious foot descending the back stairs, and realizing thatit would be both foolish and unsafe for me to endeavor to follow himthrough the unlighted rooms and possibly intricate passages of thisupper hall, I bounded down the front stairs, and feeling my way fromdoor to door, at last emerged into a room where there was a lampburning.

  "I had found the kitchen, and in it were Huckins and the man Briggs.Huckins had his hand on the latch of the outside door, and from his lookand the bundle he carried, I judged that if I had been a minute later hewould have been in full flight from the house.

  "'Put out the light!' he shouted to Briggs.

  "But I stepped forward, and the man did not dare obey him, and Huckinshimself looked cowed and dropped his hand from the door-knob.

  "'Where are you going?' I asked, moving rapidly to his side.

  "'Isn't she dead?' was his only answer, given with a mixture of mockeryand triumph difficult to describe.

  "'Yes,' I assented, 'she is dead; but that does not justify you inflying the house.'

  "'And who says I am flying?' he protested. 'Cannot I go out on an errandwithout being told I am running away?'

  "'An errand,' I repeated, 'two minutes after your sister has breathedher last! Don't talk to me of errands. Your appearance is that offlight, and that bundle in your arms looks like the cause of it.'

  "His eye, burning with a passion very natural under the circumstances,flashed over me with a look of disdain.

  "'And what do you know of my appearance, and what is it to you if Icarry or do not carry a bundle out of this house? Am I not master ofeverything here?'

  "'No,' I cried boldly; then, thinking it might perhaps be wiser not toundeceive him as to his position till I had fully sounded his purposes,I added somewhat nonchalantly: 'that is, you are not master enough totake anything away that belonged to your sister. If you can prove to methat there is nothing in that bundle save what is yours and was yoursbefore your sister died, well and good, you may go away with it andleave your poor dead sister to be cared for in her own house bystrangers. But while I have the least suspicion that property of anynature belonging to this estate is hidden away under that roll of oldclothes, you stop here if I have to appeal first to the strength of myarms and then to that of the law.'

  "'But,' he quavered, 'it is mine--_mine_. I am but carrying away my own.Did you not draw up the will yourself? Don't you know she gaveeverything to me?'

  "'What I know has nothing to do with it,' I retorted. 'Did you thinkbecause you saw a will drawn up in your favor that therefore you hadimmediate right to what she left, and could run away with her effectsbefore her body was cold? A will has to be proven, my good man, beforean heir has any right to touch what it leaves. If you do not know this,why did you try to slink away like a thief, instead of walking out ofthe front door like a proprietor? Your manner convicts you, man; so downwith the bundle, or I shall have to give you in charge of the constableas a thief.'

  "'You----!' he began, but stopped. Either his fears were touched or hiscunning awakened, for after surveying me for a moment with mingled doubtand hatred, he suddenly altered his manner, till it became almostcringing, and muttering consolingly to himself, 'After all it is only adelay; everything will soon be mine,' he laid the bundle on the oneboard of the broken table beside us, adding with hypocritical meekness:'It was only some little keepsakes of my sister, not enough to make sucha fuss about.'

  "'I will see to these _keepsakes_,' said I, and was about to raise thebundle, when he sprang upon me.

  "'You----you----!' he cried. 'What right have you to touch them or tolook at them? Because you drew up the will, does that make you anauthority here? I don't believe it, and I won't see you put on the airsof it. I will go for the constable myself. I am not afraid of the law. Iwill see who is master in this house where I have lived in wretchedslavery for years, and of which I shall be soon the owner.'

  "'Very well,' said I, 'let us go find the constable.'

  "The calmness with which I uttered this seemed at once to abash andinfuriate him.

  "He alternately cringed and ruffled himself, shuffling from one foot tothe other till I could scarcely conceal the disgust with which heinspired me. At last he blurted forth with forced bravado:

  "'Have I any rights, or haven't I any rights! You think because I don'tknow the law, that you can make a fool of me, but you can't. I may havelived like a dog, and I may not have a good coat to my back, but I amthe man to whom this property has been given, as no one knows betterthan yourself; and if I chose to lift my foot and kick you out of thatdoor for calling me a thief, who would blame me?--answer me that.'

  "'No one,' said I, with a serenity equal to his fury, 'if this propertyis indeed to be yours, and if I know it as you say.'

  "Struck by the suggestion implied in these words, as by a blow in theface for which he was wholly unprepared, he recoiled for a moment,looking at me with mingled doubt and amazement.

  "'And do you mean to deny to my face, within an hour of the fact, andwith the very witnesses to it still in the house, what you yourselfwrote in this paper I now flaunt in your face? If so, _you_ are thefool, and I the cunning one, as you will yet see, Mr. Lawyer.'

  "I met his look with great calmness.

  "'The hour you speak of contained many minutes, Mr. Huckins; and ittakes only a few for a woman to change her mind, and to record thatchange.'

  "'Her mind?' The stare of terror and dismay in his eyes was contradictedby the laugh on his lips. 'What mind had she after I left her? Shecouldn't even speak. You cannot frighten me.'

  "'Mr. Huckins,' I now said, beckoning to the two witnesses whom ourloud talking had guided to the spot where we were, 'I have thought bestto tell you what some men might have thought it more expedient perhapsto conceal. Mrs. Wakeham, who evidently felt herself unduly influencedby you in the making of that will you hold in your hand, immediatelyupon your withdrawal testified her desire to make another, and as I hadno interest in the case save the desire to fulfil her real wishes, I atonce complied with her request, and formally drew up a second will morein consonance with her evident desires.'

  "'It is a lie, a lie; you are deceiving me!' shrieked the unhappy man,taken wholly by surprise. 'She couldn't utter a word; her tongue wasparalyzed; how could you know her wishes?'

  "'Mrs. Wakeham had some of the cunning of her brother,' I observed. 'Sheknew when to play dumb and when to speak. She talked very well whenreleased from the influence of your presence.'

  "Overwhelmed, he cast one glance at the two witnesses, who by this timehad stepped to my side, and reading confirmation in the severity oftheir looks, he fell slowly back against the table where he stoodleaning heavily, with his head fallen on his breast.

  "'Who has she given the house to?' he asked at last faintly, almosthumbly.

  "'That I have no right to tell you,' I answered. 'When the will isoffered for probate you will know; that is all the comfort I can giveyou.'

  "'She has left nothing to me, that much I see,' he bitterly exclaimed;and his head, lifted with momentary passion, fell again. 'Ten years goneto the dogs,' he murmured; 'ten years, and not a cent in reward! It isenough to make a man mad.' Suddenly he started forward in irrepressiblepassion. 'You talk about influence,' he cried, 'my influence; whatinfluence did _you_ have upon her? Some, or she would never have daredto contradict her dying words in that way. But I'll have it out with youin the courts. I'll never submit to being robbed in this way.'

  "'You do not know that you are robbed,' said I, 'wait till you hear thewill.'

  "'The will?
This is her will!' he shrieked, waving before him the paperthat he held; 'I will not believe in any other; I will not acknowledgeany other.'

  "'You may have to,' now spoke up Mr. Dickey in strong and hearty tones;'and if I might advise you as a neighbor, I would say that the stilleryou keep now the better it probably will be for you in the future. Youhave not earned a good enough reputation among us for disinterestednessto bluster in this way about your rights.'

  "'I don't want any talk from you,' was Huckins' quick reply, but thesewords from one who had the ears of the community in which he lived hadnevertheless produced their effect; for his manner changed and it waswith quite a softened air that he finally put up the paper in his pocketand said: 'I beg pardon if I have talked too loud and passionately. Butthe property was given to me and it shall not be taken away if any fighton my part can keep it. So let me see you all go, for I presume you donot intend to take up your abode in this house just yet.'

  "'No,' I retorted with some significance, 'though it might be worth ourwhile. It may contain more keepsakes; I presume there are one or twoboards yet that have not been ripped up from the floors.' Then ashamedof what was perhaps an unnecessary taunt, I hastened to add: 'My reasonfor telling you of the existence of a second will is that you might nolonger make the one you hold an excuse for rifling these premises andabstracting their contents. Nothing here is yours--yet; and till youinherit, if ever you do inherit, any attempt to hide or carry away onearticle which is not manifestly your own, will be regarded by the law asa theft and will be punished as such. But,' I went on, seeking to stillfurther mitigate language calculated to arouse any man's rage, whetherhe was a villain or not, 'you have too much sense, and doubtless toomuch honesty to carry out such intentions now you know that you havelost whatever rights you considered yourself to possess, so I will sayno more about it but at once make my proposition, which is that we givethis box into the charge of Mr. Dickey, who will stand surety for ittill your sister can be found. If you agree to this----'

  "'But I won't agree,' broke in Huckins, furiously. 'Do you think I am afool? The box is mine, I say, and----'

  "'Or perhaps,' I calmly interrupted, 'you would prefer the constable tocome and take both it and the house in charge. This would better pleaseme. Shall I send for the constable?'

  "'No, no,----you! Do you want to make a prison-bird of me at once?'

  "'I do not want to,' said I, 'but the circumstances force me to it. Ahouse which has given up one treasure may give up another, and for thisother I am accountable. Now as I cannot stay here myself to watch overthe place, it necessarily follows that I must provide some one who can.And as an honest man you ought to desire this also. If you felt as Iwould under the circumstances, you would ask for the company of somedisinterested person till our rival claims as executors had been dulysettled and the right heir determined upon.'

  "'But the constable? I don't want any constable.'

  "'And you don't want Mr. Dickey?'

  "'He's better than the constable.'

  "'Very well; Mr. Dickey, will you stay?'

  "'Yes, I'll stay; that's right, isn't it, Susan?'

  "Miss Thompson who had been looking somewhat uneasy, brightened up as hespoke and answered cheerfully:

  "'Yes, that's right. But who will see me home?'

  "'Can you ask?' I inquired.

  "She smiled and the matter was settled.

  "In the hall I had the chance to whisper to Mr. Dickey:

  "'Keep a sharp lookout on the fellow. I do not trust him, and he may beup to tricks. I will notify the constable of the situation and if youwant help throw up a window and whistle. The man may make anotherattempt to rob the premises.'

  "'That is so,' was the whispered reply. 'But he will have to play sharpto get ahead of me.'"