"Yes; clearly."
"Well, I have neither wife nor children. I need not care; but suppose I make my will now; that"s a good will, ain"t it, between this and judgment, if things should go wrong?"
"Certainly," said Mr. Blinkinsop. "No judgment no forfeiture."
"And now, Doctor, don"t be afraid; tell me truly, shall I _do_?" said Mr. Longcluse, leaning back, and looking darkly and steadily in his face.
"It is a nasty case."
"Don"t be afraid, I say. I should like to know, are the chances two to one against me?"
"I"m afraid they are."
"Ten to one? Pray say what you think."
"Well, I think so."
Mr. Longcluse grew paler. They were all three silent. After about a minute, he said, in a very low tone,--
"You don"t think I have a chance? Don"t mislead me."
"It is very gloomy."
Mr. Longcluse pressed his hand to his mouth. There was a silence.
Perhaps he wished to hide some nervous movement there. He stood up, walked about a little, and then stood by Mr. Blinkinsop"s chair, with his fingers on the back of it.
"We must make a great fight of this," said Mr. Longcluse suddenly.
"We"ll fight it hard; we must win it. We _shall_ win it, by----"
And after a short pause, he added gently,--
"That will do. I think I"ll rest now; more, perhaps, another time.
Good-bye."
As they left the room, he signed to the attorney to stay.
"I have something for you--a word or two."
The attorney turned back, and they remained closeted for a time.
CHAPTER Lx.x.xVII.
CONCLUSION.
Sir Richard Arden had learned how matters were with Mr. Longcluse. He hesitated. Flight might provoke action of the kind for which there seemed no longer a motive.
In an agony of dubitation, as the day wore on, he was interrupted. Mr.
Rooke, Mr. Longcluse"s attorney, had called. There was no good in shirking a meeting. He was shown in.
"This is for you, Sir Richard," said Mr. Rooke, presenting a large letter. "Mr. Longcluse wrote it about three hours ago, and requested me to place it in your own hand, as I now do."
"It is not any _legal_ paper----" began Sir Richard.
"I haven"t an idea," answered he. "He gave it to me thus. I had some things to do for him afterwards, and a call to make, at his desire, at Mr. David Arden"s. When I got home I was sent for again. I suppose you heard the news?"
"No; what is it?"
"Oh, dear, really! They have heard it some time at Mr. Arden"s. You didn"t hear about Mr. Longcluse?"
"No, nothing, excepting what we all know--his arrest."
The attorney"s countenance darkened, and he said, dropping his voice as low as he would have given a message in church--
"Oh, poor gentleman! he died to-day. Some kind of fit, I believe; he"s gone!"
Then Mr. Rooke went into particulars, so far as he knew them, and mentioned that the coroner"s inquest would be held that afternoon; and so he departed.
Unmixed satisfaction accompanied the hearing of this news in Sir Richard"s mind. But with reflection came the terrifying question, "Has Levi got hold of that instrument of torture and ruin--the forged signature?"
In this new horror he saw the envelope which Rooke had handed to him, upon the table. He opened it, and saw the forged deed. Written across it, in Longcluse"s hand, were the words--
"Paid by W. Longcluse before due.
"W. LONGCLUSE."
That day"s date was added.
So the evidence of his guilt was no longer in the hands of a stranger, and Sir Richard Arden was saved.
David Arden had already received under like circ.u.mstances, and by the same hand, two papers of immense importance. The first written in Rooke"s hand and duly witnessed, was a very short will, signed by the testator, Walter Longcluse, and leaving his enormous wealth absolutely to David Arden. The second was a letter which attached a trust to this bequest. The letter said--
"I am the son of Edwin Raikes, your cousin. He had cast me off for my vices, when I committed the crime, not intended to have amounted to murder. It was Harry Arden"s determined resistance and my danger that cost him his life. I did kill Lebas. I could not help it. He was a fool, and might have ruined me; and that villain, Vanboeren, has spoken truth for once.
"I meant to set up the Arden family in my person. I should have taken the name. My father relented on his death-bed, and left me his money. I went to New York, and received it. I made a new start in life. On the Bourse in Paris, and in Vienna, I made a fortune by speculation; I improved it in London. You may take it all by my will. Do with half the interest as you please, during your lifetime.
The other half pay to Miss Alice Arden, and the entire capital you are to secure to her on your death.
"I had taken a.s.signments of all the mortgages affecting the Arden estates. They must go to Miss Arden, and be secured unalienably to her.
"My life has been arduous and direful. That miserable crime hung over me, and its dangers impeded me at every turn.
"You have played your game well, but with all the odds of the position in your favour. I am tired, beaten. The match is over, and you may rise now and say Checkmate.
"WALTER LONGCLUSE."
That Longcluse had committed suicide, of course I can have no doubt. It must have been effected by some unusually subtle poison. The post-mortem examination failed to discover its presence. But there was found in his desk a curious paper, in French, published about five months before, upon certain vegetable poisons, whose presence in the system no chemical test detects, and no external trace records. This paper was noted here and there on the margin, and had been obviously carefully read. Any of these tinctures he could without much trouble have procured from Paris.