Joseph Smith Fletcher

The Talleyrand Maxim

Warsaw 2017

Contents

CHAPTER I. DEATH BRINGS OPPORTUNITY

CHAPTER II. IN TRUST

CHAPTER III. THE SHOP-BOY

CHAPTER IV. THE FORTUNATE POSSESSORS

CHAPTER V. POINT-BLANK

CHAPTER VI. THE UNEXPECTED

CHAPTER VII. THE SUPREME INDUCEMENT

CHAPTER VIII. TERMS

CHAPTER IX. UNTIL NEXT SPRING

CHAPTER X. THE FOOT-BRIDGE

CHAPTER XI. THE PREVALENT ATMOSPHERE

CHAPTER XII. THE POWER OF ATTORNEY

CHAPTER XIII. THE FIRST TRICK

CHAPTER XIV. CARDS ON THE TABLE

CHAPTER XV. PRATT OFFERS A HAND

CHAPTER XVI. A HEADQUARTERS CONFERENCE

CHAPTER XVII. ADVERTISEMENT

CHAPTER XVIII. THE CONFIDING LANDLORD

CHAPTER XIX. THE EYE-WITNESS

CHAPTER XX. THE GREEN MAN

CHAPTER XXI. THE DIRECT CHARGE

CHAPTER XXII. THE CAT'SPAW

CHAPTER XXIII. SMOOTH FACE AND ANXIOUS BRAIN

CHAPTER XXIV. THE BETTER HALF

CHAPTER XXV. DRY SHERRY

CHAPTER XXVI. THE TELEPHONE MESSAGE

CHAPTER XXVII. RESTORED TO ENERGY

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE WOMAN IN BLACK

CHAPTER I

DEATH BRINGS OPPORTUNITY

Linford Pratt, senior clerk to Eldrick & Pascoe, solicitors, of Barford, a young man who earnestly desired to get on in life, by hook or by crook, with no objection whatever to crookedness, so long as it could be performed in safety and secrecy, had once during one of his periodical visits to the town Reference Library, lighted on a maxim of that other unscrupulous person, Prince Talleyrand, which had pleased him greatly. “With time and patience,” said Talleyrand, “the mulberry leaf is turned into satin.” This seemed to Linford Pratt one of the finest and soundest pieces of wisdom which he had ever known put into words.

A mulberry leaf is a very insignificant thing, but a piece of satin is a highly marketable commodity, with money in it. Henceforth, he regarded himself as a mulberry leaf which his own wit and skill must transform into satin: at the same time he knew that there is another thing, in addition to time and patience, which is valuable to young men of his peculiar qualities, a thing also much beloved by Talleyrand–opportunity. He could find the patience, and he had the time–but it would give him great happiness if opportunity came along to help in the work. In everyday language, Linford Pratt wanted a chance–he waited the arrival of the tide in his affairs which would lead him on to fortune.

Leave him alone–he said to himself–to be sure to take it at the flood. If Pratt had only known it, as he stood in the outer office of Eldrick & Pascoe at the end of a certain winter afternoon, opportunity was slowly climbing the staircase outside–not only opportunity, but temptation, both assisted by the Devil. They came at the right moment, for Pratt was alone; the partners had gone: the other clerks had gone: the office-boy had gone: in another minute Pratt would have gone, too: he was only looking round before locking up for the night. Then these things came–combined in the person of an old man, Antony Bartle, who opened the door, pushed in a queer, wrinkled face, and asked in a quavering voice if anybody was in.

“I’m in, Mr. Bartle,” answered Pratt, turning up a gas jet which he had just lowered. “Come in, sir. What can I do for you?”

Antony Bartle came in, wheezing and coughing. He was a very, very old man, feeble and bent, with little that looked alive about him but his light, alert eyes. Everybody knew him–he was one of the institutions of Barford–as well known as the Town Hall or the Parish Church. For fifty years he had kept a second-hand bookshop in Quagg Alley, the narrow passage-way which connected Market Street with Beck Street. It was not by any means a common or ordinary second-hand bookshop: its proprietor styled himself an “antiquarian bookseller”; and he had a reputation in two Continents, and dealt with millionaire buyers and virtuosos in both.

Barford people sometimes marvelled at the news that Mr. Antony Bartle had given two thousand guineas for a Book of Hours, and had sold a Missal for twice that amount to some American collector; and they got a hazy notion that the old man must be well-to-do–despite his snuffiness and shabbiness, and that his queer old shop, in the window of which there was rarely anything to be seen but a few ancient tomes, and two or three rare engravings, contained much that he could turn at an hour’s notice into gold. All that was surmise–but Eldrick & Pascoe–which term included Linford Pratt–knew all about Antony Bartle, being his solicitors: his will was safely deposited in their keeping, and Pratt had been one of the attesting witnesses.

The old man, having slowly walked into the outer office, leaned against a table, panting a little. Pratt hastened to open an inner door.

“Come into Mr. Eldrick’s room, Mr. Bartle,” he said. “There’s a nice easy chair there–come and sit down in it. Those stairs are a bit trying, aren’t they? I often wish we were on the ground floor.”

He lighted the gas in the senior partner’s room, and turning back, took hold of the visitor’s arm, and helped him to the easy chair. Then, having closed the doors, he sat down at Eldrick’s desk, put his fingers together and waited. Pratt knew from experience that old Antony Bartle would not have come there except on business: he knew also, having been at Eldrick & Pascoe’s for many years, that the old man would confide in him as readily as in either of his principals.

“There’s a nasty fog coming on outside,” said Bartle, after a fit of coughing. “It gets on my lungs, and then it makes my heart bad. Mr. Eldrick in?”

“Gone,” replied Pratt. “All gone, Mr. Bartle–only me here.”

“You’ll do,” answered the old bookseller. “You’re as good as they are.” He leaned forward from the easy chair, and tapped the clerk’s arm with a long, claw-like finger. “I say,” he continued, with a smile that was something between a wink and a leer, and suggestive of a pleased satisfaction. “I’ve had a find!”

“Oh!” responded Pratt. “One of your rare books, Mr. Bartle? Got something for twopence that you’ll sell for ten guineas? You’re one of the lucky ones, you know, you are!”

“Nothing of the sort!” chuckled Bartle. “And I had to pay for my knowledge, young man, before I got it–we all have. No–but I’ve found something: not half an hour ago. Came straight here with it. Matters for lawyers, of course.”

“Yes?” said Pratt inquiringly. “And–what may it be?” He was expecting the visitor to produce something, but the old man again leaned forward, and dug his finger once more into the clerk’s sleeve.

“I say!” he whispered. “You remember John Mallathorpe and the affair of–how long is it since?”

“Two years,” answered Pratt promptly. “Of course I do. Couldn’t very well forget it, or him.”

He let his mind go back for the moment to an affair which had provided Barford and the neighbourhood with a nine days’ sensation. One winter morning, just two years previously, Mr. John Mallathorpe, one of the best-known manufacturers and richest men of the town, had been killed by the falling of his own mill-chimney. The condition of the chimney had been doubtful for some little time; experts had been examining it for several days: at the moment of the catastrophe, Mallathorpe himself, some of his principal managers, and a couple of professional steeple-jacks, were gathered at its base, consulting on a report. The great hundred-foot structure above them had collapsed without the slightest warning: Mallathorpe, his principal manager, and his cashier, had been killed on the spot: two other bystanders had subsequently died from injuries received. No such accident had occurred in Barford, nor in the surrounding manufacturing district, for many years, and there had been much interest in it, for according to the expert’s conclusions the chimney was in no immediate danger.

Other mill-owners then began to examine their chimneys, and for many weeks Barford folk had talked of little else than the danger of living in the shadows of these great masses of masonry.

But there had soon been something else to talk of. It sprang out of the accident–and it was of particular interest to persons who, like Linford Pratt, were of the legal profession. John Mallathorpe, so far as anybody knew or could ascertain, had died intestate. No solicitor in the town had ever made a will for him. No solicitor elsewhere had ever made a will for him. No one had ever heard that he had made a will for himself. There was no will. Drastic search of his safes, his desks, his drawers revealed nothing–not even a memorandum. No friend of his had ever heard him mention a will. He had always been something of a queer man. He was a confirmed bachelor. The only relation he had in the world was his sister-in-law, the widow of his deceased younger brother, and her two children–a son and a daughter. And as soon as he was dead, and it was plain that he had died intestate, they put in their claim to his property.

John Mallathorpe had left a handsome property. He had been making money all his life. His business was a considerable one–he employed two thousand workpeople. His average annual profit from his mills was reckoned in thousands–four or five thousands at least. And some years before his death, he had bought one of the finest estates in the neighbourhood, Normandale Grange, a beautiful old house, set amidst charming and romantic scenery in a valley, which, though within twelve miles of Barford, might have been in the heart of the Highlands. Therefore, it was no small thing that Mrs. Richard Mallathorpe and her two children laid claim to. Up to the time of John Mallathorpe’s death, they had lived in very humble fashion–lived, indeed, on an allowance from their well-to-do kinsman–for Richard Mallathorpe had been as much of a waster as his brother had been of a money-getter. And there was no withstanding their claim when it was finally decided that John Mallathorpe had died intestate–no withstanding that, at any rate, of the nephew and niece. The nephew had taken all the real estate: he and his sister had shared the personal property. And for some months they and their mother had been safely installed at Normandale Grange, and in full possession of the dead man’s wealth and business.

All this flashed through Linford Pratt’s mind in a few seconds–he knew all the story: he had often thought of the extraordinary good fortune of those young people. To be living on charity one week–and the next to be legal possessors of thousands a year!–oh, if only such luck would come his way!

“Of course!” he repeated, looking thoughtfully at the old bookseller. “Not the sort of thing one does forget in a hurry, Mr. Bartle. What of it?”

Antony Bartle leaned back in his easy chair and chuckled–something, some idea, seemed to be affording him amusement.

“I’m eighty years old,” he remarked. “No, I’m more, to be exact. I shall be eighty-two come February. When you’ve lived as long as that, young Mr. Pratt, you’ll know that this life is a game of topsy-turvy–to some folks, at any rate. Just so!”

“You didn’t come here to tell me that, Mr. Bartle,” said Pratt. He was an essentially practical young man who dined at half-past six every evening, having lunched on no more than bread-and-cheese and a glass of ale, and he also had his evenings well mapped out. “I know that already, sir.”

“Aye, aye, but you’ll know more of it later on,” replied Bartle. “Well–you know, too, no doubt, that the late John Mallathorpe was a bit–only a bit–of a book-collector; collected books and pamphlets relating to this district?”

“I’ve heard of it,” answered the clerk.

“He had that collection in his private room at the mill,” continued the old bookseller, “and when the new folks took hold, I persuaded them to sell it to me. There wasn’t such a lot–maybe a hundred volumes altogether–but I wanted what there was. And as they were of no interest to them, they sold ‘em. That’s some months ago. I put all the books in a corner–and I never really examined them until this very afternoon. Then–by this afternoon’s post–I got a letter from a Barford man who’s now out in America. He wanted to know if I could supply him with a nice copy of Hopkinson’s History of Barford. I knew there was one in that Mallathorpe collection, so I got it out, and examined it. And in the pocket inside, in which there’s a map, I found–what d’ye think?”

“Couldn’t say,” replied Pratt. He was still thinking of his dinner, and of an important engagement to follow it, and he had not the least idea that old Antony Bartle was going to tell him anything very important. “Letters? Bank-notes? Something of that sort?”

The old bookseller leaned nearer, across the corner of the desk, until his queer, wrinkled face was almost close to Pratt’s sharp, youthful one. Again he lifted the claw-like finger: again he tapped the clerk’s arm.

“I found John Mallathorpe’s will!” he whispered. “His–will!”

Linford Pratt jumped out of his chair. For a second he stared in speechless amazement at the old man; then he plunged his hands deep into his trousers’ pockets, opened his mouth, and let out a sudden exclamation.

“No!” he said. “No! John Mallathorpe’s–will? His–will!”

“Made the very day on which he died,” answered Bartle, nodding emphatically.

“Queer, wasn’t it? He might have had some–premonition, eh?”

Pratt sat down again.

“Where is it?” he asked.

“Here in my pocket,” replied the old bookseller, tapping his rusty coat. “Oh, it’s all right, I assure you. All duly made out, signed, and witnessed. Everything in order, I know!–because a long, a very long time ago, I was like you, an attorney’s clerk. I’ve drafted many a will, and witnessed many a will, in my time. I’ve read this, every word of it–it’s all right. Nothing can upset it.”

“Let’s see it,” said Pratt, eagerly.

“Well–I’ve no objection–I know you, of course,” answered Bartle, “but I’d rather show it first to Mr. Eldrick. Couldn’t you telephone up to his house and ask him to run back here?”

“Certainly,” replied Pratt. “He mayn’t be there, though. But I can try.
You haven’t shown it to anybody else?”

“Neither shown it to anybody, nor mentioned it to a soul,” said Bartle. “I tell you it’s not much more than half an hour since I found it. It’s not a long document. Do you know how it is that it’s never come out?” he went on, turning eagerly to Pratt, who had risen again. “It’s easily explained. The will’s witnessed by those two men who were killed at the same time as John Mallathorpe! So, of course, there was nobody to say that it was in evidence. My notion is that he and those two men–Gaukrodger and Marshall, his manager and cashier–had signed it not long before the accident, and that Mallathorpe had popped it into the pocket of that book before going out into the yard. Eh? But see if you can get Mr. Eldrick down here, and we’ll read it together. And I say–this office seems uncommonly stuffy–can you open the window a bit or something?–I feel oppressed, like.”

Pratt opened a window which looked out on the street. He glanced at the old man for a moment and saw that his face, always pallid, was even paler than usual.

“You’ve been talking too much,” he said. “Rest yourself, Mr. Bartle, while I ring up Mr. Eldrick’s house. If he isn’t there, I’ll try his club–he often turns in there for an hour before going home.”

He went out by a private door to the telephone box, which stood in a lobby used by various occupants of the building. And when he had rung up Eldrick’s private house and was waiting for the answer, he asked himself what this discovery would mean to the present holders of the Mallathorpe property, and his curiosity–a strongly developed quality in him–became more and more excited. If Eldrick was not at home, if he could not get in touch with him, he would persuade old Bartle to let him see his find–he would cheerfully go late to his dinner if he could only get a peep at this strangely discovered document. Romance! Why, this indeed was romance; and it might be–what else? Old Bartle had already chuckled about topsy-turvydom: did that mean that–

The telephone bell rang: Eldrick had not yet reached his house. Pratt got on to the club: Eldrick had not been there. He rang off, and went back to the private room.

“Can’t get hold of him, Mr. Bartle,” he began, as he closed the door. “He’s not at home, and he’s not at the club. I say!–you might as well let me have a look at––”

Pratt suddenly stopped. There was a strange silence in the room: the old man’s wheezy breathing was no longer heard. And the clerk moved forward quickly and looked round the high back of the easy chair….

He knew at once what had happened–knew that old Bartle was dead before he laid a finger on the wasted hand which had dropped helplessly at his side. He had evidently died without a sound or a movement–died as quietly as he would have gone to sleep. Indeed, he looked as if he had just laid his old head against the padding of the chair and dropped asleep, and Pratt, who had seen death before, knew that he would never wake again. He waited a moment, listening in the silence. Once he touched the old man’s hand; once, he bent nearer, still listening. And then, without hesitation, and with fingers that remained as steady as if nothing had happened, he unbuttoned Antony Bartle’s coat, and drew a folded paper from the inner pocket.

CHAPTER II

IN TRUST

As quietly and composedly as if he were discharging the most ordinary of his daily duties, Pratt unfolded the document, and went close to the solitary gas jet above Eldrick’s desk. What he held in his hand was a half-sheet of ruled foolscap paper, closely covered with writing, which he at once recognized as that of the late John Mallathorpe. He was familiar with that writing–he had often seen it. It was an old-fashioned writing–clear, distinct, with every letter well and fully formed.

“Made it himself!” muttered Pratt. “Um!–looks as if he wanted to keep the terms secret. Well––”

He read the will through–rapidly, but with care, murmuring the phraseology half aloud.

“This is the last will of me, John Mallathorpe, of Normandale Grange, in the parish of Normandale, in the West Riding of the County of York. I appoint Martin William Charlesworth, manufacturer, of Holly Lodge, Barford, and Arthur James Wyatt, chartered accountant, of 65, Beck Street, Barford, executors and trustees of this my will. I give and devise all my estate and effects real and personal of which I may die possessed or entitled to unto the said Martin William Charlesworth and Arthur James Wyatt upon trust for the following purposes to be carried out by them under the following instructions, namely:–As soon after my death as is conveniently possible they will sell all my real estate, either by private treaty or by public auction; they shall sell all my personal property of any nature whatsoever; they shall sell my business at Mallathorpe’s mill in Barford as a going concern to any private purchaser or to any company already in existence or formed for the purpose of acquiring it; and they shall collect all debts and moneys due to me. And having sold and disposed of all my property, real and personal, and brought all the proceeds of such sales and of such collection of debts and moneys into one common fund they shall first pay all debts owing by me and all legal duties and expenses arising out of my death and this disposition of my property and shall then distribute my estate as follows, namely: to each of themselves, Martin William Charlesworth and Arthur James Wyatt, they shall pay the sum of five thousand pounds; to my sister-in-law, Ann Mallathorpe, they shall pay the sum of ten thousand pounds; to my nephew, Harper John Mallathorpe, they shall pay the sum of ten thousand pounds; to my niece, Nesta Mallathorpe, they shall pay the sum of ten thousand pounds. And as to the whole of the remaining residue they shall pay it in one sum to the Mayor and Corporation of the borough of Barford in the County of York to be applied by the said Mayor and Corporation at their own absolute discretion and in any manner which seems good to them to the establishment, furtherance and development of technical and commercial education in the said borough of Barford. Dated this sixteenth day of November, 1906.

Signed by the testator in the presence of us both present at the same time who in his presence } JOHN MALLATHORPE and in the presence of each other have hereunto set our names as witnesses.

HENRY GAUKRODGER, 16, Florence Street,
Barford, Mill Manager.

CHARLES WATSON MARSHALL, 56, Laburnum Terrace,
Barford, Cashier.”

As the last word left his lips Pratt carefully folded up the will, slipped it into an inner pocket of his coat, and firmly buttoned the coat across his chest. Then, without as much as a glance at the dead man, he left the room, and again visited the telephone box. He was engaged in it for a few minutes. When he came out he heard steps coming up the staircase, and looking over the banisters he saw the senior partner, Eldrick, a middle-aged man. Eldrick looked up, and saw Pratt.

“I hear you’ve been ringing me up at the club, Pratt,” he said. “What is it?”

Pratt waited until Eldrick had come up to the landing. Then he pointed to the door of the private room, and shook his head.

“It’s old Mr. Bartle, sir,” he whispered. “He’s in your room there–dead!”

“Dead?” exclaimed Eldrick. “Dead!”

Pratt shook his head again.

“He came up not so long after you’d gone, sir,” he said. “Everybody had gone but me–I was just going. Wanted to see you about something I don’t know what. He was very tottery when he came in–complained of the stairs and the fog. I took him into your room, to sit down in the easy chair. And–he died straight off. Just,” concluded Pratt, “just as if he was going quietly to sleep!”

“You’re sure he is dead?–not fainting?” asked Eldrick.

“He’s dead, sir–quite dead,” replied Pratt. “I’ve rung up Dr. Melrose–he’ll be here in a minute or two–and the Town Hall–the police–as well. Will you look at him, sir?”

Eldrick silently motioned his clerk to open the door; together they walked into the room. And Eldrick looked at his quiet figure and wan face, and knew that Pratt was right.

“Poor old chap!” he murmured, touching one of the thin hands. “He was a fine man in his time, Pratt; clever man! And he was very, very old–one of the oldest men in Barford. Well, we must wire to his grandson, Mr. Bartle Collingwood. You’ll find his address in the book. He’s the only relation the old fellow had.”

“Come in for everything, doesn’t he, sir?” asked Pratt, as he took an address book from the desk, and picked up a sheaf of telegram forms.

“Every penny!” murmured Eldrick. “Nice little fortune, too–a fine thing for a young fellow who’s just been called to the Bar. As a matter of fact, he’ll be fairly well independent, even if he never sees a brief in his life.”

“He has been called, has he, sir?” asked Pratt, laying a telegram form on Eldrick’s writing pad and handing him a pen. “I wasn’t aware of that.”

“Called this term–quite recently–at Gray’s Inn,” replied Eldrick, as he sat down. “Very promising, clever young man. Look here!–we’d better send two wires, one to his private address, and one to his chambers. They’re both in that book. It’s six o’clock, isn’t it?–he might be at his chambers yet, but he may have gone home. I’ll write both messages–you put the addresses on, and get the wire off–we must have him down here as soon as possible.”

“One address is 53x, Pump Court; the other’s 96, Cloburn Square,” remarked Pratt consulting the book. “There’s an express from King’s Cross at 8.15 which gets here midnight.”

“Oh, it would do if he came down first thing in the morning–leave it to him,” said Eldrick. “I say, Pratt, do you think an inquest will be necessary?”

Pratt had not thought of that–he began to think. And while he was thinking, the doctor whom he had summoned came in. He looked at the dead man, asked the clerk a few questions, and was apparently satisfied. “I don’t think there’s any need for an inquest,” he said in reply to Eldrick. “I knew the old man very well–he was much feebler than he would admit. The exertion of coming up these stairs of yours, and the coughing brought on by the fog outside–that was quite enough. Of course, the death will have to be reported in the usual way, but I have no hesitation in giving a certificate. You’ve let the Town Hall people know? Well, the body had better be removed to his rooms–we must send over and tell his housekeeper. He’d no relations in the town, had he?”

“Only one in the world that he ever mentioned–his grandson–a young barrister in London,” answered Eldrick. “We’ve just been wiring to him. Here, Pratt, you take these messages now, and get them off. Then we’ll see about making all arrangements. By-the-by,” he added, as Pratt moved towards the door, “you don’t know what–what he came to see me about?”

“Haven’t the remotest idea, sir,” answered Pratt, readily and glibly.
“He died–just as I’ve told you–before he could tell me anything.”

He went downstairs, and out into the street, and away to the General Post Office, only conscious of one thing, only concerned about one thing–that he was now the sole possessor of a great secret. The opportunity which he had so often longed for had come. And as he hurried along through the gathering fog he repeated and repeated a fragment of the recent conversation between the man who was now dead, and himself–who remained very much alive.

“You haven’t shown it to anybody else?” Pratt had asked.

“Neither shown it to anybody, nor mentioned it to a soul,” Antony Bartle had answered. So, in all that great town of Barford, he, Linford Pratt, he, alone out of a quarter of a million people, knew–what? The magnitude of what he knew not only amazed but exhilarated him. There were such possibilities for himself in that knowledge. He wanted to be alone, to think out those possibilities; to reckon up what they came to. Of one thing he was already certain–they should be, must be, turned to his own advantage.

It was past eight o’clock before Pratt was able to go home to his lodgings. His landlady, meeting him in the hall, hoped that his dinner would not be spoiled: Pratt, who relied greatly on his dinner as his one great meal of the day, replied that he fervently hoped it wasn’t, but that if it was it couldn’t be helped, this time. For once he was thinking of something else than his dinner–as for his engagement for that evening, he had already thrown it over: he wanted to give all his energies and thoughts and time to his secret. Nevertheless, it was characteristic of him that he washed, changed his clothes, ate his dinner, and even glanced over the evening newspaper before he turned to the real business which was already deep in his brain. But at last, when the maid had cleared away the dinner things, and he was alone in his sitting-room, and had lighted his pipe, and mixed himself a drop of whisky-and-water–the only indulgence in such things that he allowed himself within the twenty-four hours–he drew John Mallathorpe’s will from his pocket, and read it carefully three times. And then he began to think, closely and steadily.

First of all, the will was a good will. Nothing could upset it. It was absolutely valid. It was not couched in the terms which a solicitor would have employed, but it clearly and plainly expressed John Mallathorpe’s intentions and meanings in respect to the disposal of his property. Nothing could be clearer. The properly appointed trustees were to realize his estate. They were to distribute it according to his specified instructions. It was all as plain as a pikestaff. Pratt, who was a good lawyer, knew what the Probate Court would say to that will if it were ever brought up before it, as he did, a quite satisfactory will. And it was validly executed. Hundreds of people, competent to do so, could swear to John Mallathorpe’s signature; hundreds to Gaukrodger’s; thousands to Marshall’s–who as cashier was always sending his signature broadcast. No, there was nothing to do but to put that into the hands of the trustees named in it, and then….

Pratt thought next of the two trustees. They were well-known men in the town. They were comparatively young men–about forty. They were men of great energy. Their chief interests were in educational matters–that, no doubt, was why John Mallathorpe had appointed them trustees. Wyatt had been plaguing the town for two years to start commercial schools: Charlesworth was a devoted champion of technical schools. Pratt knew how the hearts of both would leap, if he suddenly told them that enormous funds were at their disposal for the furtherance of their schemes. And he also knew something else–that neither Charlesworth nor Wyatt had the faintest, remotest notion or suspicion that John Mallathorpe had ever made such a will, or they would have moved heaven and earth, pulled down Normandale Grange and Mallathorpe’s Mill, in their efforts to find it.

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