He showed nothing of this in his face, and still sat there with his chin resting on his umbrella. But certainly stronger ideas than usual of the great wrongs which he had suffered did come into his head as he looked upon the paper at his feet. He began to wonder whether he would be justified in taking it up and inspecting it. But as he was thinking of this the pale-faced man rose from his chair, and after moving among the papers on the ground for an instant, selected this very doc.u.ment, and carried it with him to his table. Mr Ball, as his eyes followed the parchment, watched the young man dust it and open it, and then having flattened it with his hand, glance over it till he came to a certain spot. The pale-faced clerk, accustomed to such doc.u.ments, glanced over the ambages, the "whereases," the "aforesaids," the rich exuberance of "admors.," "exors.," and "a.s.signs," till he deftly came to the pith of the matter, and then he began to make extracts, a date here and a date there. John Ball watched him all the time, till the door was opened, and old Mr Slow himself appeared in the room.
He stepped across the papers to shake hands with his client, and then shook hands also with Mr Ball, whom he knew. His eye glanced at once down to the box, and after that over towards the pale-faced clerk.
Mr Ball perceived that the attorney had joined in his own mind the operation that was going on with these special doc.u.ments, and the presence of these two special visitors; and that he, in some measure, regretted the coincidence. There was something wrong, and John Ball began to consider whether the old lawyer could be an old scoundrel.
Some lawyers, he knew, were desperate scoundrels. He said nothing, however; but, obeying Mr Slow"s invitation, followed him and his cousin into the sanctum sanctorum of the chambers.
"They didn"t tell me you were here at first," said the lawyer, in a tone of vexation, "or I wouldn"t have had you shown in there."
John Ball thought that this was, doubtless, true, and that very probably they might not have been put in among those papers had Mr Slow known what was being done.
"The truth is," continued the lawyer, "the Duke of F----"s man of business was with me, and they did not like to interrupt me."
Mr Slow was a grey-haired old man, nearer eighty than seventy, who, with the exception of a fortnight"s holiday every year which he always spent at Margate, had attended those same chambers in Lincoln"s Inn Fields daily for the last sixty years. He was a stout, thickset man, very leisurely in all his motions, who walked slowly, talked slowly, read slowly, wrote slowly, and thought slowly; but who, nevertheless, had the reputation of doing a great deal of business, and doing it very well. He had a partner in the business, almost as old as himself, named Bideawhile; and they who knew them both used to speculate which of the two was the most leisurely. It was, however, generally felt that, though Mr Slow was the slowest in his speech, Mr Bideawhile was the longest in getting anything said.
Mr Slow would often beguile his time with unnecessary remarks; but Mr Bideawhile was so constant in beguiling his time, that men wondered how, in truth, he ever did anything at all. Of both of them it may be said that no men stood higher in their profession, and that Mr Ball"s suspicions, had they been known in the neighbourhood of Lincoln"s Inn, would have been scouted as utterly baseless. And, for the comfort of my readers, let me a.s.sure them that they were utterly baseless. There might, perhaps, have been a little vanity about Mr Slow as to the names of his aristocratic clients; but he was an honest, painstaking man, who had ever done his duty well by those who had employed him.
Is it not remarkable that the common repute which we all give to attorneys in the general is exactly opposite to that which every man gives to his own attorney in particular? Whom does anybody trust so implicitly as he trusts his own attorney? And yet is it not the case that the body of attorneys is supposed to be the most roguish body in existence?
The old man seemed now to be a little fretful, and said something more about his sorrow at their having been sent into that room.
"We are so crowded," he said, "that we hardly know how to stir ourselves."
Miss Mackenzie said it did not signify in the least. Mr Ball said nothing, but seated himself with his chin again resting on his umbrella.
"I was so sorry to see in the papers an account of your brother"s death," said Mr Slow.
"Yes, Mr Slow; he has gone, and left a wife and very large family."
"I hope they are provided for, Miss Mackenzie."
"No, indeed; they are not provided for at all. My brother had not been fortunate in business."
"And yet he went into it with a large capital,--with a large capital in such a business as that."
John Ball, with his chin on the umbrella, said nothing. He said nothing, but he winced as he thought whence the capital had come. And he thought, too, of those much-meaning words: "Jonathan Ball to John Ball, junior--Deed of gift."
"He had been unfortunate," said Miss Mackenzie, in an apologetic tone.
"And what will you do about your loan?" said Mr Slow, looking over to John Ball when he asked the question, as though inquiring whether all Miss Mackenzie"s affairs were to be talked over openly in the presence of that gentleman.
"That was a gift," said Miss Mackenzie.
"A deed of gift," thought John Ball to himself. "A deed of gift!"
"Oh, indeed! Then there"s an end of that, I suppose," said Mr Slow.
"Exactly so. I have been explaining to my cousin all about it. I hope the firm will be able to pay my sister-in-law the interest on it, but that does not seem sure."
"I am afraid I cannot help you there, Miss Mackenzie."
"Of course not. I was not thinking of it. But what I"ve come about is this." Then she told Mr Slow the whole of her project with reference to her fortune; how, on his death-bed, she had promised to give half of all that she had to her brother"s wife and family, and how she had come there to him, with her cousin, in order that he might put her in the way of keeping her promise.
Mr Slow sat in silence and patiently heard her to the end. She, finding herself thus encouraged to speak, expatiated on the solemnity of her promise, and declared that she could not be comfortable till she had done all that she had undertaken to perform. "And I shall have quite enough for myself afterwards, Mr Slow, quite enough."
Mr Slow did not say a word till she had done, and even then he seemed to delay his speech. John Ball never raised his face from his umbrella, but sat looking at the lawyer, whom he still suspected of roguery. And if the lawyer were a rogue, what then about his cousin?
It must not be supposed that he suspected her; but what would come of her, if the fortune she held were, in truth, not her own?
"I have told my cousin all about it," continued Margaret, "and I believe that he thinks I am doing right. At any rate, I would do nothing without his knowing it."
"I think she is giving her sister-in-law too much," said John Ball.
"I am only doing what I promised," urged Margaret.
"I think that the money which she lent to the firm should, at any rate, be deducted," said John Ball, speaking this with a kind of proviso to himself, that the words so spoken were intended to be taken as having any meaning only on the presumption that that doc.u.ment which he had seen in the other room should turn out to be wholly inoperative and inefficient at the present moment. In answer to these side-questions or corollary points as to the deduction or non-deduction of the loan, Mr Slow answered not a word; but when there was silence between them, he did make answer as to the original proposition.
"Miss Mackenzie," he said, "I think you had better postpone doing anything in this matter for the present."
"Why postpone it?" said she.
"Your brother"s death is very recent. It happened not above a fortnight since, I think."
"And I want to have this settled at once, so that there shall be no distress. What"s the good of waiting?"
"Such things want thinking of, Miss Mackenzie."
"But I have thought of it. All I want now is to have it done."
A slight smile came across the puckered grey face of the lawyer as he felt the imperative nature of the instruction given to him. The lady had come there not to be advised, but to have her work done for her out of hand. But the smile was very melancholy, and soon pa.s.sed away.
"Is the widow in immediate distress?" asked Mr Slow.
Now the fact was that Miss Mackenzie herself had been in good funds, having had ready money in her hands from the time of her brother Walter"s death; and for the last year she had by no means spent her full income. She had, therefore, given her sister-in-law money, and had paid the small debts which had come in, as such small debts will come in, directly the dead man"s body was under ground. Nay, some had come in and had been paid while the man was yet dying. She exclaimed, therefore, that her sister-in-law was not absolutely in immediate want.
"And does she keep the house?" asked the lawyer.
Then Miss Mackenzie explained that Mrs Tom intended, if possible, to keep the house, and to take some lady in to lodge with her.
"Then there cannot be any immediate hurry," urged the lawyer; "and as the sum of money in question is large, I really think the matter should be considered."
But Miss Mackenzie still pressed it. She was very anxious to make him understand--and of course he did understand at once--that she had no wish to hurry him in his work. All that she required of him was an a.s.surance that he accepted her instructions, and that the thing should be done with not more than the ordinary amount of legal delay.
"You can pay her what you like out of your own income," said the lawyer.
"But that is not what I promised," said Margaret Mackenzie.
Then there was silence among them all. Mr Ball had said very little since he had been sitting in that room, and now it was not he who broke the silence. He was still thinking of that deed of gift, and wondering whether it had anything to do with Mr Slow"s unwillingness to undertake the commission which Margaret wished to give him. At last Mr Slow got up from his chair, and spoke as follows:
"Mr Ball, I hope you will excuse me; but I have a word or two to say to Miss Mackenzie, which I had rather say to her alone."
"Certainly," said Mr Ball, rising and preparing to go.