by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XI.
A STARTLING WILL.
Mr. Pettigrew at once took the management of affairs at the house inHyde Park Gardens into his hands, as one of the trustees, as jointguardian of the heir, and as family solicitor. Hilda was completelyprostrated by the two blows that had so suddenly fallen, and was gladindeed that all necessity for attending to business was taken off herhands.
"We need not talk about the future at present," Mr. Pettigrew said toher; "that is a matter that can be considered afterwards. You are mostfortunate in having the lady with whom you so long lived here with you,and I trust that some permanent arrangement may be made. In any case youcould not, of course, well remain here alone."
"I have not thought anything about it yet," she said wearily. "Oh, Iwish I were a man, Mr. Pettigrew; then I could do something myselftowards searching for Walter, instead of being obliged to sit hereuselessly."
"If you were a man, Miss Covington, you could do nothing more at presentthan is being done. The police are keeping up a most vigilant search. Ihave offered a reward of five hundred pounds for any news that may leadto the child's discovery, and notices have even been sent to theconstabularies of all the home counties, requesting them to makeinquiries if any tramp or tramps, accompanied by a child of about theage of our young ward, have been seen passing along the roads. But, as Itold you when you called upon me, I have little doubt but that it is acase of blackmail, and that it will not be long before we hear of him.It is probable that the General's death has somewhat disconcerted them,and it is likely that they may wait to see how matters go and who is theperson with whom they had best open negotiations. I have no doubt thatthey are in some way or other keeping themselves well informed of whatis taking place here."
* * * * *
The funeral was over, the General being followed to the grave by anumber of his military friends and comrades, and the blinds at the housein Hyde Park Gardens were drawn up again. On the following morning Mr.Pettigrew came to the house early. He was a man who was methodical inall his doings, and very rarely ruffled. As soon as he entered, however,Hilda saw that something unusual had happened.
"Have you heard of Walter?" she exclaimed.
"No, my dear, but I have some strange and unpleasant news to give you.Yesterday afternoon I received an intimation from Messrs. Halstead &James, saying that they had in their possession the will of the lateGeneral Mathieson bearing date the 16th of May of the present year. Ineed not say that I was almost stupefied at the news. The firm is one ofhigh standing, and it is impossible to suppose that any mistake hasarisen; at the same time it seemed incredible that the General shouldthus have gone behind our backs, especially as it was only three monthsbefore that we had at his request drawn out a fresh will for him. Still,I am bound to say that such cases are by no means rare. A man wants tomake a fresh disposition of his property, in a direction of which hefeels that his own solicitors, especially when they are old familysolicitors, will not approve, and, therefore, he gets it done by someother firm, with the result that, at his death, it comes like abombshell to all concerned. I can hardly doubt that it is so in thiscase, although what dispositions the General may have made of hisproperty, other than those contained in the last will we drew up, I amunable to say. At any rate one of the firm will come round to our officeat twelve o'clock with this precious document, and I think that it isright that you should be present when it is opened. You will bepunctual, will you not?"
"You can rely upon my being there a few minutes before twelve, Mr.Pettigrew. It all seems very strange. I knew what was the generalpurport of my uncle's last will, for he spoke of it to me. It was, hesaid, the same as the one before it, with the exception that he had lefta handsome legacy to the man who had saved his life from a tiger. I wasnot surprised at this at all. He had taken a very great fancy to thisMr. Simcoe, who was constantly here, and it seemed to me only naturalthat he should leave some of his money to a man who had done him sogreat a service, and who, as he told me, had nearly lost his own life indoing it."
"Quite so," the lawyer agreed; "it seemed natural to us all. Hisproperty was large enough to permit of his doing so without making anymaterial difference to his grandchild, who will come into a fine estatewith large accumulations during his long minority. Now I must be off."
There was a little council held after the lawyer had left.
"They say troubles never comes singly," Hilda remarked, "and certainlythe adage is verified in my case."
"But we must hope that this will not be so, my dear," Miss Purcell said.
"It cannot be any personal trouble, aunt," for Hilda had fallen backinto her old habit of so addressing her, "because uncle told me that, asI was so well off, he had only put me down for a small sum in his will,just to show that he had not forgotten me. I feel sure that he will havemade no change in that respect, and that whatever alteration he may havemade cannot affect me in the least; except, of course, he may have cometo the conclusion that it would be better to appoint two men asguardians to Walter, but I hardly think that he would have done that.However, there must be something strange about it, or he would not havegone to another firm of solicitors. No, I feel convinced that there issome fresh trouble at hand."
The carriage drew up at the office in Lincoln's Inn at five minutes totwelve. Mr. Pettigrew had not included Miss Purcell and Netta in theinvitation, but Hilda insisted upon their coming with her. They wereshown at once into his private room, where some extra chairs had beenplaced. Colonel Bulstrode was already there, and Mr. Farmer joined hispartner as soon as they were seated.
"This is a most singular affair, Miss Covington," he said, "and I needhardly say that it is a matter of great annoyance as well as surprise toPettigrew and myself. Of course General Mathieson was perfectly free togo to any other firm of solicitors, but as we have made the wills forhis family and yours for the last hundred years, as well as conductedall their legal business, it is an unpleasant shock to find that he hasgone elsewhere, and I must say that I am awaiting the reading of thiswill with great curiosity, as its contents will doubtless furnish uswith the reason why he had it thus prepared."
Just at the stroke of twelve Mr. Halstead and Mr. James were announced.
"We thought it as well," the former said, "for us both to come, Mr.Farmer, for we can understand your surprise at finding that a later willthan that which is doubtless in your possession is in existence, and weare ready to explain the whole circumstances under which it was drawnout by us. General Mathieson came one day to our office. He brought withhim the card of Colonel Bulstrode; but this was unnecessary, for somemonths ago the General was at our office with the Colonel. He was onlythere for the purpose of fixing his name as a witness to the colonel'ssignature, as our client, like many others, preferred having a personalfriend to witness his signature instead of this being done by one of ourclerks."
"That was so," the Colonel interjected.
"General Mathieson," Mr. Halstead went on, "was only in our office aminute or two on that occasion, but of course that was sufficient for usto recognize him when he called again. He told us that he desired us todraw out a will, and that as he had determined to appoint Mr. Pettigrewone of his trustees and guardian to his heir, he thought it as well toemploy another firm to draw up the will.
"We pointed out that such a precaution was altogether needless whendealing with a firm like yours, and he then said, 'I have anotherreason. I am making a change in one of the provisions of the will, and Ifancy that Farmer & Pettigrew might raise an argument upon it. Here arethe instructions,' I said, 'You will permit me to read them through,General, before giving you a decided answer.' Had the will contained anyprovision that we considered unjust we should have declined to have hadanything to do with the matter; but as it in no way diverted theproperty from the natural heir, and was, as far as we could see, a justand reasonable one, we saw no cause for refusing to carry out hisinstructions; for we have known, as doubtless you have known, manysimilar instan
ces, in which men, for some reason or other, have chosento go outside their family solicitors in matters which they desiredshould remain entirely a secret until after their death. Had GeneralMathieson come to us as an altogether unknown person we should havepoint-blank refused to have had anything to do with the business; but asan intimate friend of our client Colonel Bulstrode, and as being knownto us to some extent personally, we decided to follow the instructionsgiven us in writing. I will now, with your permission, read the will."
"First let me introduce Miss Covington to you," Mr. Farmer said. "She isthe General's nearest relative, with the exception of his grandson.These ladies are here with her as her friends."
Mr. Halstead bowed, then broke the seals on a large envelope, drew out aparchment, and proceeded to read it. Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew listenedwith increasing surprise as he went on. The legacies were absolutelyidentical with those in the will that they had last prepared. The sametrustees and guardians for the child were appointed, and they wereunable to understand what had induced General Mathieson to have whatwas almost a duplicate of his previous will prepared so secretly. Thelast paragraph, however, enlightened them. Instead of Hilda Covington,John Simcoe was named as heir to the bulk of the property in the eventof the decease of Walter Rivington, his grandson, before coming of age.
Hilda gave an involuntary start as the change was announced, and the twolawyers looked at each other in dismay. Mr. Halstead, to whom theGeneral had explained his reasons for gratitude to John Simcoe, sawnothing unusual in the provision, which indeed was heralded with thewords, "as my only near relative, Hilda Covington, is well endowed, Ihereby appoint my dear friend, John Simcoe, my sole heir in the event ofthe decease of my grandson, Walter Rivington, before coming of age, intoken of my appreciation of his heroic rescue of myself from the jaws ofa tiger, in the course of which rescue he was most seriously wounded."
When he had finished he laid down the will and looked round.
"I hope," he said, "that this will be satisfactory to all parties."
"By gad, sir," Colonel Bulstrode said hotly, "I should call this lastpart as unsatisfactory as possible."
"The will is identical," Mr. Farmer said, without heeding the Colonel'sinterjection, "with the one that General Mathieson last executed. Thepersons benefited and the amounts left to them are in every case thesame, but you will understand the dismay with which we have heard theconcluding paragraph when I tell you that General Mathieson's heir,Walter Rivington, now a child of six or seven years old, disappeared--Ithink I may say was kidnaped--on the day preceding General Mathieson'sdeath, and that all efforts to discover his whereabouts have so far beenunsuccessful."
Mr. Halstead and his partner looked at each other with dismay, evengreater than that exhibited by the other lawyers.
"God bless me!" Mr. Halstead exclaimed. "This is a bad businessindeed--and a very strange one. Do you think that this Mr. Simcoe canhave been aware of this provision in his favor?"
"It is likely enough that he was aware of it," Mr. Pettigrew said; "hewas constantly in the company of General Mathieson, and the latter, whowas one of the frankest of men, may very well have informed him; butwhether he actually did do so or not of course I cannot say. Would youhave any objection to my looking at the written instructions?"
"Certainly not. I brought them with me in order that they may bereferred to as to any question that might arise."
"It is certainly in the General's own handwriting," Mr. Pettigrew said,after looking at the paper. "But, indeed, the identity of the legaciesgiven to some twenty or thirty persons, and of all the other provisionsof the will, including the appointment of trustees and guardians, withthose of the will in our possession, would seem in itself to set thematter at rest. Were you present yourself when the General signed it?"
"Certainly. Both Mr. James and myself were present. I can now onlyexpress my deep regret that we acceded to the General's request to drawup the will."
"It is unfortunate, certainly," Mr. Farmer said. "I do not see thatunder the circumstances of his introduction by an old client, and thefact that you had seen him before, anyone could blame you forundertaking the matter. Such cases are, as you said, by no meansunusual, and I am quite sure that you would not have undertaken it, hadyou considered for a moment that any injustice was being done by itsprovisions."
"May I ask to whom the property was to go to by the first will?"
"It was to go to Miss Covington. I am sure that I can say, in her name,that under other circumstances she would not feel in any way aggrievedat the loss of a property she can well dispense with, especially as thechances of that provision coming into effect were but small, as thechild was a healthy little fellow, and in all respects likely to live tocome of age."
"I do not care in the least for myself," Hilda said impetuously. "On thecontrary, I would much rather that it had gone to someone else. I shouldnot have at all liked the thought that I might benefit by Walter'sdeath, but I would rather that it had been left to anyone but this man,whom I have always disliked, and whom Walter also disliked. I cannotgive any reason why. I suppose it was an instinct, and now the instinctis justified, for I feel sure that he is at the bottom of Walter'sdisappearance."
"Hush! hush! my dear young lady," Mr. Farmer said, holding up his handin dismay, "you must not say such things; they are libelous in theextreme. Whatever suspicions you may have--and I own that at presentthings look awkward--you must not mention those suspicions until youobtain some evidence in their support. The disappearance of the child atthis moment may be a mere coincidence--a singular one, if you like--andwe shall, of course, examine the matter to the utmost and sift it to thebottom, but nothing must be said until we have something to go on."
Hilda sat silent, with her lips pressed tightly together and anexpression of determination upon her face. The other solicitors speedilyleft, after more expressions of regret.
"What are we going to do next, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda asked abruptly, asthe door closed behind them.
"That is too difficult a matter to decide off-hand, but after going intothe whole matter with my co-trustee, Colonel Bulstrode, with theassistance of my partner, we shall come to some agreement as to the bestcourse to take. Of course we could oppose the probate of this new will,but it does not seem to me that we have a leg to stand upon in thatrespect. I have no doubt that Halstead & James will retire altogetherfrom the matter, and refuse to act further. In that case it will be myduty, of course, to acquaint Simcoe with the provisions of the will,and to inform him that we, as trustees, shall not proceed to take anyfurther steps in the matter until the fate of Walter Rivington isascertained, but shall until then administer the estate in his behalf.It will then be for him to take the next step, and he certainly will notmove for some months. After a time he will, of course, apply to thecourt to have it declared that Walter Rivington, having disappeared fora long time, there is reasonable presumption of his death. I shall then,in your name and mine, as the child's guardians, be heard in opposition,and I feel sure that the court will refuse to grant the petition,especially under the serious and most suspicious circumstances of thecase. In time Simcoe will repeat the application, and we shall of courseoppose it. In fact, I think it likely that it will be a good many yearsbefore the court will take the step asked, and all that time we shall bequietly making inquiries about this man and his antecedents, and weshall, of course, keep up a search for the child. It may be that hisdisappearance is only a coincidence, and that he has, as we at firstsupposed, been stolen for the purpose of making a heavy claim for hisreturn."
"You may be sure that I shall not rest until I find him, Mr. Pettigrew,"Hilda said. "I shall devote my life to it. I love the child dearly; buteven were he a perfect stranger to me I would do everything in my power,if only to prevent this man from obtaining the proceeds of hisvillainy."
Mr. Farmer again interposed.
"My dear Miss Covington," he said, "you really must not speak like this.Of course, with us it is perfectly safe. I admit that y
ou have goodreason for your indignation, but you must really moderate yourexpressions, which might cause infinite mischief were you to use thembefore other people. In the eye of the law a man is innocent until he isproved guilty, and we have not a shadow of proof that this man hasanything to do with the child's abduction. Moreover, it might do harm inother ways. To begin with, it might render the discovery of the childmore difficult; for if his abductors were aware or even suspected thatyou were searching in all directions for him, they would take all thegreater pains to conceal his hiding-place."
"I will be careful, Mr. Farmer, but I shall proceed to have a searchmade at every workhouse and night refuge and place of that sort inLondon, and within twenty miles round, and issue more placards of youroffer of a reward of five hundred pounds for information. There is noharm in that."
"Certainly not. Those are the measures that one would naturally take inany case. Indeed, I should already have pushed my inquiries in thatdirection, but I have hitherto felt sure that had he been merely takenfor his clothes, the police would have traced him before now; but asthey have not been able to do so, that it was a case of blackmail, andthat we should hear very shortly from the people that had stolen him. Isincerely trust that this may the case, and that it will turn out thatthis man Simcoe has nothing whatever to do with it. I will come down andlet you know what steps we are taking from time to time, and learn thedirections in which you are pushing your inquiries."
Neither Miss Purcell nor Netta had spoken from the time they had enteredthe room, but as soon as they took their places in the carriage waitingfor them, they burst out.
"What an extraordinary thing, Hilda! And yet," Miss Purcell added, "thesearch for Walter may do good in one way; it will prevent you fromturning your thoughts constantly to the past and to the loss that youhave suffered."
"If it had not been for Walter being missing, aunt, I should havethought nothing of uncle's appointing Mr. Simcoe as heir to his propertyif anything should happen to him. This man had obtained an extraordinaryinfluence over him, and there can be no doubt from uncle's statement tome that he owed his life solely to him, and that Simcoe indeed wasseriously injured in saving him. He knew that I had no occasion for themoney, and have already more than is good for a girl to have at herabsolute disposal; therefore I am in no way surprised that he shouldhave left him his estate in the event of Walter's death. All that isquite right, and I have nothing to say against it, except that I havealways disliked the man. It is only the extraordinary disappearance ofWalter, just at this moment, that seems to me to render it certain thatSimcoe is at the bottom of it. No one else could have had any motive forstealing Walter, more than any other rich man's child. His interest inhis disappearance is immense. I have no doubt uncle had told him what hehad done, and the man must have seen that his chance of getting theestate was very small unless the child could be put out of the way."
"You don't think," Netta began, "that any harm can have happened tohim?"
"No, I don't think that. Whether this man would have shrunk from it ifthere were no other way, I need not ask myself; but there could havebeen no occasion for it. Walter is so young that he will very soonforget the past; he might be handed over to a gypsy and grow up a littlevagrant, and as there is no mark on him by which he might be identified,he would be lost to us forever. You see the man can afford to wait. Hehas doubtless means of his own--how large I do not know, but I haveheard my uncle say that he had handsome chambers, and certainly he livedin good style. Now he will have this legacy of ten thousand pounds, andif the court keeps him waiting ten or fifteen years before pronouncingWalter dead, he can afford to wait. Anyhow, I shall have plenty of timein which to act, and it will require a lot of thinking over before Idecide what I had best do."
She lost no time, however, in beginning to work. Posters offering thereward of five hundred pounds for information of the missing boy were atonce issued, and stuck up not only in London, but in every town andvillage within thirty miles. Then she obtained from Mr. Pettigrew thename of a firm of trustworthy private detectives and set them to makeinquiries, in the first place at all the institutions where a lost childwould be likely to be taken if found, or where it might have been leftby a tramp. Two days after the reading of the will she received thefollowing letter from John Simcoe:
"DEAR MISS COVINGTON: I have learned from Messrs. Farmer & Pettigrew the liberal and I may say extraordinary generosity shown towards myself by the late General Mathieson, whose loss I most deeply deplore. My feelings of gratitude are at the present moment overwhelmed by the very painful position in which I find myself. I had, of course, heard, upon calling at your door to make inquiries, that little Walter was missing, and was deeply grieved at the news, though not at the time dreaming that it could affect me personally. Now, however, the circumstances of the case are completely changed, for, by the provisions of the will, I should benefit pecuniarily by the poor child's death. I will not for a moment permit myself to believe that he is not alive and well, and do not doubt that you will speedily recover him; but, until this occurs, I feel that some sort of suspicion must attach to me, who am the only person having an interest in his disappearance. The thought that this may be so is distressing to me in the extreme. Since I heard of his disappearance I have spent the greater part of my time in traversing the slums of London in hopes of lighting upon him. I shall now undertake wider researches, and shall to-day insert advertisements in all the daily papers, offering one thousand pounds for his recovery. I feel sure that you at least will not for a moment entertain unjust suspicions concerning me, but those who do not know me well may do so, and although at present none of the facts have been made public, I feel as if I were already under a cloud, and that men in the club look askance at me, and unless the child is found my position will speedily become intolerable. My only support in this trial is my consciousness of innocence. You will excuse me for intruding upon your sorrow at the present moment, but I felt compelled to write as I have done, and to assure you that I will use every effort in my power to discover the child, not only for his own sake and yours, but because I feel that until he is discovered I must continue to rest under the terrible, if unspoken, suspicion of being concerned in his disappearance.
"Believe me, yours very truly, "JOHN SIMCOE."