Morley nodded. "Very ironical, isn"t it?" he said. "She was always talking and hoping for the money, and now when it comes she is unable to enjoy it. What tricks Fate plays us to be sure!"
"Poor girl!" sighed Giles; "how often have we discussed the prospect of her being an heiress! I always told her that I had enough for both, but she hankered after having money in her own right."
"Look at the papers," said Morley, handing them to the young man, "and you will see that Powell died over four months ago in Sydney. His solicitors arranged about the estate in the colony of New South Wales, and then communicated with Asher as Powell had advised them before he died. There is a copy of the will there."
"So I see. But tell me the chief points in it. I feel too tired to wade through all this legal matter."
"Well, the money was left to Daisy, and failing her it goes to a man called George Franklin."
"H"m! He has come in for his kingdom very speedily, thanks to the death of poor Daisy. Who is he?"
Morley glanced at a letter. "He was the brother-in-law of Mr.
Powell--married Powell"s sister who is dead. I don"t know if there is any family. Asher"s firm doesn"t know the whereabouts of Franklin, but they are advertising for him. The five thousand a year goes to him without reservation."
"Why did they tell you all this?"
"I really can"t say, unless it is because I was Daisy"s legal guardian.
I wish she had come in for this money, Ware, for I do not say but what I shouldn"t have been glad of a trifle. And if Daisy had lived she would have paid me something. Certainly as I did what I did do out of sheer friendship with her father, I have no right to demand anything, but when Franklin hears of my circ.u.mstances I hope he will lend me some money to get me out of my difficulties."
"It all depends upon the kind of man he turns out to be. But I always thought, Morley, that it was your wife to whom Kent left his daughter.
She was an old friend of his."
"Quite so; but Kent appointed me guardian, as Mrs. Morley refused to be legally bound. I am sure I did my duty," added the little man, with sudden heat.
"I am sure you did. You behaved like a father to her, and I am sorry she did not live to repay you." Giles thought for a moment or so, then added, "I was engaged to Daisy, and I am rich. Let me help you, Morley."
"No, thanks. It is good of you to suggest such a thing, but I am a very independent man. If this Franklin will do anything, I don"t mind accepting a thousand from him; otherwise--no, Ware."
Giles admired the bluff way in which Morley said this. He knew well that for a long time Morley and his wife had done all they could for Daisy Kent, and that both of them deserved great praise. He suggested that Mrs. Morley might be induced----
"No," interrupted his visitor, "my wife wants nothing. She has her own money, and ample means."
"Then why don"t you ask for her help?"
"My dear Ware, I married Mrs. Morley because I loved her, and not for her money. All her property is settled on herself, and I have not touched one shilling of it. She would willingly help me, but I have refused."
"Isn"t that rather quixotic on your part?"
"Perhaps," responded Morley, with some dryness; "but it is my nature.
However, I see that I am tiring you. I only came to tell you of this irony of fate, whereby Daisy inherited a fortune too late to benefit by it. I must go now. My wife expects me back in Brighton to-morrow."
"When do you return to The Elms?"
"In a month. And what are your movements?"
Ware thought for a few minutes before he answered. At length he spoke seriously.
"Morley, I know you are prejudiced against Miss Denham."
"I think she is guilty, if that is what you mean, Ware."
"And I say that she is innocent. I intend to devote myself to finding her and to clearing up this mystery."
"Well, I wish you good luck," said Morley, moving towards the door; "but don"t tell me when you find Miss Denham. If I come across her I"ll have her arrested."
"That"s plain enough. Well, since you are her declared enemy, I shall keep my own counsel." He raised himself on his elbow. "But I tell you, Morley, that I shall find her. I shall prove her innocence, and I shall make her my wife."
Morley opened the door.
"The age of miracles is past," he said. "When you are more yourself, you will be wiser. Good-bye, and a speedy recovery."
As the visitor departed Trim entered with the letters. He was not at all pleased to find Giles so flushed, and refused to hand over the correspondence. Only when Ware began to grow seriously angry did Trim give way. He went grumbling out of the room as Giles opened his letters.
The first two were from friends in town asking after his health; the third had a French stamp and the Paris postmark. Ware opened it listlessly. He then uttered an exclamation. On a sheet of thin foreign paper was the drawing in pencil of a half-sovereign of Edward VII., and thereon three circles placed in a triangle, marked respectively "A,"
"D," and "P." Below, in a handwriting he knew only too well, was written the one word "Innocent."
"Anne, Anne!" cried Ware, pa.s.sionately kissing the letter, "as though I needed you to tell me that!"
And it was not till an hour later that he suddenly remembered what a narrow escape he had had from putting Morley on the track of Anne Denham. Had Morley seen that letter----?
"Paris," murmured Giles, "I"ll go there."
CHAPTER IX
A STRANGE DISCOVERY
The offices of Asher, Son, and Asher were situated in a dark, narrow street in the City, which led down to the river. In former days the place might have been respectable, and then the original Asher had set up his official tent in the neighborhood; but civilization had moved westward, and Terry Street was looked on askance by fashionable solicitors. Nevertheless the firm of Asher continued to dwell in the dingy office, where their progenitors had slaved for close on a hundred years. It was quite good enough, thought the present head of the firm, for such well-known lawyers.
The firm did a good old-fashioned business, eminently respectable and safe. None of the three partners was a sharper, as Morley a.s.serted; but as the firm had issued a judgment summons against the master of The Elms, he could scarcely be expected to think well of them. Old Mr. Asher rarely came to the office, preferring his country house and melon beds, and the business was conducted by the son and the other Asher, who was a cousin. Both these gentlemen were over forty, and in spite of a modern education were decidedly old-fashioned. There was something in the musty air of the Terry Street office that petrified them into old men before their due time. The three clerks who sat in the outer rooms were also elderly, and the sole youthful creature about the place was the office boy, a red-haired imp who answered to the name of Alexander. His surname was Benker, but was not thought sufficiently dignified for use in so sedate a place of business.
With some difficulty Steel found this musty haunt of the legal Muse, and sent up his name to the senior partner with a request for an interview.
Alexander, whistling between his teeth, led him into a frowzy apartment lined with books and tin boxes, and furnished with a green baize-covered table heaped with legal papers, three chairs, and a mahogany sofa of the Early Victorian period. Mr. Asher, the son, might have belonged to the same epoch, in spite of his age, so rusty and smug did he look. His face was clean-shaven with the exception of side-whiskers; his hair was thin on the top and spa.r.s.e on the sides, and he was dressed in a suit of solemn black, with a satin tie to match. In fact, he was the typical lawyer of melodrama, and Steel was surprised to find so ancient a survival in these modern days. But when they began to talk Asher proved to be quite able to hold his own, and was not at all fossilized in brain, whatever he might be in appearance. He knew not only the name of Steel, but all about the case and Steel"s connection therewith. He referred in feeling terms to Daisy"s death.
"A very charming girl, Mr. Steel," said the young-old lawyer. "On several occasions she has been here to draw her little income. It is sad that she should have met with her death at the hands of a jealous woman at the very time she was about to enjoy a legacy of five thousand a year."
"You don"t say so!" cried Steel, who had heard nothing of this.
"Ah! Mr. Morley never informed you of the fact."
"Well, no, he didn"t; but then, I have not seen him for over a week. I believe he is at Brighton with his wife. Who left this money to the late Miss Kent?"
"A relative of hers who died lately in Australia."
"And failing her who inherits?"