"And the first step toward stopping it is to stop the will."
"Then why are you here?"
"To make sure that there is no will already. You have satisfied me, and now I go."
There was a pause.
"Who shall say that I am acting a base part?" said Hugh, in an eager tone.
"Who indeed?"
"Nature itself is on my side."
The man was conquered. He was in the grip of his temptation.
"I am off, Mr. Ritson. Get back into the house. It is not safe for you to be out of sight and sound."
Mr. Bonnithorne was moving off in the darkness, the lamp before his breast; its light fell that instant on Hugh Ritson"s haggard face.
"Wait; put out your lamp."
"It"s done."
All was now dark.
"Good-night."
"Good-night."
With slow whispers the two men parted.
The springy step of Josiah Bonnithorne was soon lost in the road below.
Hugh Ritson stood for awhile where the lawyer left him, and then turned back into the house. He found the cabinet open. In the turmoil of emotion he had forgotten to close it. He returned to it, and shuffled with the papers to put them back in their place. At that moment the door opened, and a heavy footstep fell on the floor. Hugh glanced up startled. It was Paul. His face was plowed deep with lines of pain. But the cloud of sorrow that it wore was not so black as the cloud of anger when he saw what his brother was doing and guessed his purpose.
"What are you about?" Paul asked, mastering his wrath.
There was no response.
"Shut up that cabinet!"
Hugh turned about with a flushed face.
"I shall do as I please!"
Paul took two strides toward him.
"Shut it up!"
The cabinet was closed. At the same moment Mrs. Ritson came from the inner room. Paul turned on his heel.
"He is thinking of the will," said the elder brother. "Perhaps it is natural that he should distrust me; but when the time comes he is welcome to the half of everything, and ten thousand wills would hardly give him more."
Mrs. Ritson was strongly agitated. Her eyes, red with weeping, were aflame with expression.
"Paul, he is conscious," she cried in a voice that her anxiety could not subdue. "He is trying to speak. Where is the lawyer?"
Hugh had been moving toward the outer door.
"Conscious!" he repeated, and returned to the hearth.
"Send for Mr. Bonnithorne at once!" said Mrs. Ritson, addressing Hugh.
Her manner was feverish. Hugh touched the bell. When the servant appeared, he said:
"Tell Natt to run to the village for Mr. Bonnithorne."
Paul had walked to the door of the inner room. His hand was on the handle, when the door opened and Greta came out. She stepped up to Mrs.
Ritson and tried to quiet her agitation.
The servant returned.
"I can"t find Natt," she said. "He is not in the house."
"You"ll find him in the stable," said Hugh, composedly.
The servant went out hurriedly.
Paul returned to the middle of the room.
"I"ll go myself," he said, and plucked his hat from the settle, but Mrs.
Ritson rose to prevent him.
"No, no, Paul," she said in a tremulous voice, "you must never leave his side."
Paul glanced at his brother with a perplexed look. The calmness of Hugh"s manner disturbed him.
The servant reappeared.
"Natt is not in the stable, sir."
Paul"s face was growing crimson. Mrs. Ritson turned to Hugh.
"Hugh, my dear son, do you go for the lawyer."
A faint smile that lurked at the corners of Hugh"s mouth gave way to a look of injury.
"Mother, my place, also, is here. How can you ask me to leave my father"s side at a moment like this?"