Furnival, moved by her woman"s plea, had not been hard enough in his heart to refuse her.
When she entered the room she was dressed very plainly as was her custom, and a thick veil covered her face; but still she was dressed with care. There was nothing of the dowdiness of the lone lorn woman about her, none of that lanky, washed-out appearance which sorrow and trouble so often give to females. Had she given way to dowdiness, or suffered herself to be, as it were, washed out, Mr. Furnival, we may say, would not have been there to meet her;--of which fact Lady Mason was perhaps aware.
"I am so grateful to you for this trouble," she said, as she raised her veil, and while he pressed her hand between both his own. "I can only ask you to believe that I would not have troubled you unless I had been greatly troubled myself."
Mr. Furnival, as he placed her in an arm-chair by the fireside, declared his sorrow that she should be in grief, and then he took the other arm-chair himself, opposite to her, or rather close to her,--much closer to her than he ever now seated himself to Mrs. F.
"Don"t speak of my trouble," said he, "it is nothing if I can do anything to relieve you." But though he was so tender, he did not omit to tell her of her folly in having informed her son that she was to be in London. "And have you seen him?" asked Lady Mason.
"He was in Harley Street with the ladies last night. But it does not matter. It is only for your sake that I speak, as I know that you wish to keep this matter private. And now let us hear what it is. I cannot think that there can be anything which need really cause you trouble." And he again took her hand,--that he might encourage her.
Lady Mason let him keep her hand for a minute or so, as though she did not notice it; and yet as she turned her eyes to him it might appear that his tenderness had encouraged her.
Sitting there thus, with her hand in his,--with her hand in his during the first portion of the tale,--she told him all that she wished to tell. Something more she told now to him than she had done to Sir Peregrine. "I learned from her," she said, speaking about Mrs.
Dockwrath and her husband, "that he had found out something about dates which the lawyers did not find out before."
"Something about dates," said Mr. Furnival, looking with all his eyes into the fire. "You do not know what about dates?"
"No; only this; that he said that the lawyers in Bedford Row--"
"Round and Crook."
"Yes; he said that they were idiots not to have found it out before; and then he went off to Groby Park. He came back last night; but of course I have not seen her since."
By this time Mr. Furnival had dropped the hand, and was sitting still, meditating, looking earnestly at the fire while Lady Mason was looking earnestly at him. She was trying to gather from his face whether he had seen signs of danger, and he was trying to gather from her words whether there might really be cause to apprehend danger.
How was he to know what was really inside her mind; what were her actual thoughts and inward reasonings on this subject; what private knowledge she might have which was still kept back from him? In the ordinary intercourse of the world when one man seeks advice from another, he who is consulted demands in the first place that he shall be put in possession of all the circ.u.mstances of the case. How else will it be possible that he should give advice? But in matters of law it is different. If I, having committed a crime, were to confess my criminality to the gentleman engaged to defend me, might he not be called on to say: "Then, O my friend, confess it also to the judge; and so let justice be done. Ruat coelum, and the rest of it?" But who would pay a lawyer for counsel such as that?
In this case there was no question of payment. The advice to be given was to a widowed woman from an experienced man of the world; but, nevertheless, he could only make his calculations as to her peculiar case in the way in which he ordinarily calculated. Could it be possible that anything had been kept back from him? Were there facts unknown to him, but known to her, which would be terrible, fatal, d.a.m.ning to his sweet friend if proved before all the world? He could not bring himself to ask her, but yet it was so material that he should know! Twenty years ago, at the time of the trial, he had at one time thought,--it hardly matters to tell what, but those thoughts had not been favourable to her cause. Then his mind had altered, and he had learned,--as lawyers do learn,--to believe in his own case. And when the day of triumph had come, he had triumphed loudly, commiserating his dear friend for the unjust suffering to which she had been subjected, and speaking in no low or modified tone as to the grasping, greedy cruelty of that man of Groby Park. Nevertheless, through it all, he had felt that Round and Crook had not made the most of their case.
And now he sat, thinking, not so much whether or no she had been in any way guilty with reference to that will, as whether the counsel he should give her ought in any way to be based on the possibility of her having been thus guilty. Nothing might be so d.a.m.ning to her cause as that he should make sure of her innocence, if she were not innocent; and yet he would not ask her the question. If innocent, why was it that she was now so much moved, after twenty years of quiet possession?
"It was a pity," he said, at last, "that Lucius should have disturbed that fellow in the possession of his fields."
"It was; it was!" she said. "But I did not think it possible that Miriam"s husband should turn against me. Would it be wise, do you think, to let him have the land again?"
"No, I do not think that. It would be telling him, and telling others also, that you are afraid of him. If he have obtained any information that may be considered of value by Joseph Mason, he can sell it at a higher price than the holding of these fields is worth."
"Would it be well--?" She was asking a question and then checked herself.
"Would what be well?"
"I am so hara.s.sed that I hardly know what I am saying. Would it be wise, do you think, if I were to pay him anything, so as to keep him quiet?"
"What; buy him off, you mean?"
"Well, yes;--if you call it so. Give him some sum of money in compensation for his land; and on the understanding, you know--," and then she paused.
"That depends on what he may have to sell," said Mr. Furnival, hardly daring to look at her.
"Ah; yes," said the widow. And then there was another pause.
"I do not think that that would be at all discreet," said Mr.
Furnival. "After all, the chances are that it is all moonshine."
"You think so?"
"Yes; I cannot but think so. What can that man possibly have found among the old attorney"s papers that may be injurious to your interests?"
"Ah! I do not know; I understand so little of these things. At the time they told me,--you told me that the law might possibly go against my boy"s rights. It would have been bad then, but it would be ten times more dreadful now."
"But there were many questions capable of doubt then, which were definitely settled at the trial. As to your husband"s intellect on that day, for instance."
"There could be no doubt as to that."
"No; so it has been proved; and they will not raise that point again.
Could he have possibly have made a later will?"
"No; I am sure he did not. Had he done so it could not have been found among Mr. Usbech"s papers; for, as far as I remember, the poor man never attended to any business after that day."
"What day?"
"The 14th of July, the day on which he was with Sir Joseph."
It was singular, thought the barrister, with how much precision she remembered the dates and circ.u.mstances. That the circ.u.mstances of the trial should be fresh on her memory was not wonderful; but how was it that she knew so accurately things which had occurred before the trial,--when no trial could have been expected? But as to this he said nothing.
"And you are sure he went to Groby Park?"
"Oh, yes; I have no doubt of it. I am quite sure."
"I do not know that we can do anything but wait. Have you mentioned this to Sir Peregrine?" It immediately occurred to Lady Mason"s mind that it would be by no means expedient, even if it were possible, to keep Mr. Furnival in ignorance of anything that she really did; and therefore explained that she had seen Sir Peregrine. "I was so troubled at the first moment that I hardly knew where to turn," she said.
"You were quite right to go to Sir Peregrine."
"I am so glad you are not angry with me as to that."
"And did he say anything--anything particular?"
"He promised that he would not desert me, should there be any new difficulty."
"That is well. It is always good to have the countenance of such a neighbour as he is."
"And the advice of such a friend as you are." And she again put out her hand to him.
"Well; yes. It is my trade, you know, to give advice," and he smiled as he took it.
"How should I live through such troubles without you?"
"We lawyers are very much abused now-a-days," said Mr. Furnival, thinking of what was going on down at Birmingham at that very moment; "but I hardly know how the world would get on without us."
"Ah! but all lawyers are not like you."