"I understand it"s durn mean business!" he shouted. "I"m ashamed of you, John Kendrick!"
"All right! all right! The shame can wait. And I want YOU to wait, too--until I"ve finished. There was a flaw in that t.i.tle, as I said.
Captain Bangs, as you know, the house in which Mrs. Barnes is now living originally stood, not where it now stands, but upon land two or three hundred yards to the north, upon a portion of the property which afterward became the Colfax estate and which now belongs to Mr. Kendrick here. You know that?"
Captain Obed nodded. "Course I know it," he said. "Cap"n Abner could have bought the house and the land it stood on, but he didn"t want to.
He liked the view better from where it stands now. So he bought the strip nigher this way and moved the old house over. But he DID buy it and he paid cash for it. I know he did, because--"
"All right. I know he bought it and all the particulars of the purchase perhaps better than you do. A good deal of my time of late has been given to investigating the history of that second strip of land.
Captain Abner Barnes, Mrs. Barnes" uncle, bought the land upon which he contemplated moving, and later, did move the house, of Isaiah Holt, Darius Holt"s father, then living. Mr. Holt bought of a man named David Snow, who, in turn, bought of--"
Holliday Kendrick interrupted. "Snow bought of me," he growled. "Worse luck! I was a fool to sell, or so I think now; but it was years ago; I had no idea at that time of coming here to live; and sh.o.r.e land was of no value then, anyhow. The strip came to me as a part of my father"s estate. I thought myself lucky to get anything for it. But what"s all this ancient history got to do with it now? And what do you mean by sending me this letter and that check?"
"I"ll explain. I am trying to explain. The peculiar point comes in just here. You, Mr. Kendrick, never owned that land."
E. Holliday bounced in his chair.
"Didn"t own it!" he roared. "What nonsense are you talking? The land belonged to my father, Samuel Kendrick, and I inherited it from him."
"No, you didn"t."
"I tell you I did. He left everything he had to me."
"Yes, so he did. But he didn"t own that land. He owned it at one time, probably he owned it when he made his will, but he didn"t own it at the time of his death. Your father, Mr. Kendrick, was in financial straits at various times during his residence here in Orham and he borrowed a good deal of money. The most of these were loans, pure and simple, but one at least wasn"t. At one time--needing money badly, I presume--he sold this strip of land. The purchaser thought it was worth nothing, no doubt, and never mentioned owning it--at least, until just before he died. He simply had the deed recorded and forgot it. Everyone else forgot it, too. But the heirs, or the heir, of that purchaser, I discovered, was the legal owner of that land."
Captain Obed uttered an exclamation.
"Why, John Kendrick!" he shouted. "Do you mean--"
"Hush, Captain! Mr. Kendrick," addressing the red-faced and furious gentleman at his left, "have I made myself clear so far? Do you follow me?"
"Follow you? I don"t believe it! I--I--don"t believe it! Who was he? Who did my father sell that land to?"
"He sold it to his brother, Bailey Kendrick, and Bailey Kendrick was my father. Under my father"s will what little property he had came to me.
If anything is sure in this world, it is that that land occupied by Mrs.
Barnes belonged, legally, to me."
Neither of his hearers spoke immediately. Then E. Holliday sprang to his feet.
"It belongs to you, does it!" he shouted. "It belongs to you? All right, so much the better. I can buy of you as well as anybody else. That"s why you sent me back your retainer, was it? So you and I could trade man to man. All right! I don"t believe it yet, but I"ll listen to you. What"s your proposition?"
John shook his head.
"No," he said. "You"re wrong there. I sent you the retainer because I wished to be absolutely free to do as I pleased with what was mine. I couldn"t remain in your employ and act contrary to your interests--or, according to my way of thinking, I couldn"t. As I saw it I did not own that land--morally, at least. So, having resigned my employment with you I--well, I gave the land to the person who, by all that is right and--and HONEST, should own it. I had the deed made out in her name and I sent it to her an hour ago."
Captain Obed had guessed it. Now HE sprang from his chair.
"John Kendrick," he shouted, in huge delight, "you gave that land to Thankful Barnes. The deed was in that big envelope Winnie S. Holt was takin" to her this very mornin"!"
The happenings of the next few minutes were noisy and profane. E.
Holliday Kendrick was responsible for most of the noise and all of the profanity. He stormed up and down the office, calling his cousin every uncomplimentary name that occurred to him, vowing the whole story to be a lie, and that the land should be his anyway; threatening suit and personal vengeance. His last words, as he strode to the door, were:
"And--and you"re the fellow, the poor relation, that I gave my business to just from kindness! All right! I haven"t finished with you yet."
John"s answer was calm, but emphatic.
"Very well," he said. "But this you must understand: I consider myself under no obligation whatever to you, Mr. Kendrick. In the very beginning of our business relationship you and I had a plain talk. I told you when I consented to act as your attorney that I did so purely as a matter of business and that philanthropy and kinship were to have no part in it.
And when you first mentioned your intention of forcing Mrs. Barnes to give up her home I told you what I thought of that, too."
East Wellmouth"s wealthiest summer resident expressed an opinion.
"You"re a fool!" he snarled. "A d--d impractical fool!"
The door slammed behind him. John laughed quietly.
"As a judge of character, Captain Bangs," he observed, "my respected cousin should rank high."
Captain Obed"s first act after E. Holliday"s departure was to rush over, seize the young man"s hand with one of his own, and thump him enthusiastically upon the back with the other.
"I said it!" he crowed. "I knew it! I knew you was all right and square as a brick all the time, John Kendrick! NOW let me meet some of those folks that have been talkin" against you! You never did a better day"s work in your life. HE"S down on you, but every decent man in Ostable County"ll be for you through thick and thin after this. Hooray for our side! John, shake hands with me again."
They shook, heartily. The captain was so excited and jubilant that he was incoherent. At last, however, he managed to recover sufficiently to ask a question.
"But how did you do it," he demanded. "How did you get on the track of it? You must have had some suspicions."
John smiled. His friend"s joy evidently pleased him, but he, himself, was rather sober and not in the least triumphant.
"I did have a suspicion, Captain," he said. "In fact, I had been told that I had a claim to a piece of land somewhere along the sh.o.r.e here in East Wellmouth. My father told me years ago, when he was in his last sickness. He said that he owned a strip of land here, but that it was probably worth little or nothing. When I came here I intended looking into the matter, but I did not do so. Where the original deed may be, I don"t know even now. It may be among some of my father"s papers, which are stored in New York. But the record of the transfers I found in Ostable; and that is sufficient. My claim may not be quite as impregnable as I gave my late client to understand, but it will be hard to upset. I am the only possible claimant and I have transferred my claim to Mrs. Barnes. The land belongs to her now; she can"t be dispossessed."
"But--but, John, why didn"t you say so sooner? What made you let everyone think--what they did think?"
Before John could reply there came an interruption. The door opened and Thankful Barnes entered. She paid no attention to Captain Obed, but, walking straight to the desk, laid upon it the long envelope which Winnie S. had brought to her house that morning.
"Will you tell me," she asked, sharply, "what that means?"
John rose. "Yes," he said, "I will tell you, Mrs. Barnes. It is a rather long story. Sit down, please."
Thankful sank into the chair he indicated. He took up the envelope.
"I will tell you, Mrs. Barnes," he said, "why I sent you this deed.
Don"t go, Captain Bangs, you know already and I should like to have you stay. Here is the story, Mrs. Barnes."
He told it briefly, without superfluous words, but so clearly that there could be no possibility of a misunderstanding. When he began Thankful"s att.i.tude was cold and unbelieving. When he finished she was white and trembling.
"Mrs. Barnes," he said, in conclusion, "I"m a peculiar fellow, I"m afraid. I have rather--well, suppose we call them impractical ideas concerning the ethics of my profession, duty to a client, and that sort of thing. I have always been particular in taking a case, but when I have taken it I have tried to carry it through. I--as you know, I hesitated before accepting my cousin"s retaining fee and the implied obligation. However, I did accept."
He might have given his reasons for accepting but he did not. He went on.
"When this matter of your property came up," he said, "I at first had no idea that the thing was serious. You owned the property, as I supposed, and that was sufficient. I had told my cousin that and meant to tell you. I meant to tell you a portion of what I have just told the captain here, but I--well, I didn"t. Mr. Daniels" remarks irritated me and I--well, he put the case as a test of legal skill between himself and me, and--and I have my share of pride, I suppose. So I determined to beat him if I could. It was wrong, as I see it now, and I beg your pardon."