"_Can_ you make a will?" Sir George retorted.
"No man better," said Peter with confidence; and on the instant he drew a chair to the table, seized the pen, and bent the nib on his thumbnail; then he said briskly, "I wait your commands, sir."
Sir George stared in some embarra.s.sment--he had not expected to be taken so literally; but, after a moment"s hesitation, reflecting that to write down his wishes with his own hand would give him more trouble, and that he might as well trust this stranger as that, he accepted the situation.
"Take down what I wish, then," he said. "Put it into form afterwards, and bring it to me when I rise. Can you be secret?"
"Try me," Peter answered with enthusiasm. "For a good client I would bite off my tongue."
"Very well, then, listen!" Sir George said. And presently, after some humming and thinking, "I wish to leave all my real property to the eldest son of my uncle, Anthony Soane," he continued.
"Right, sir. Child already in existence, I presume? Not that it is absolutely necessary," the attorney continued glibly. "But--"
"I do not know," said Sir George.
"Ah!" said the lawyer, raising his pen and knitting his brows while he looked very learnedly into vacancy. "The child is expected, but you have not yet heard, sir, that--"
"I know nothing about the child, nor whether there is a child," Sir George answered testily. "My uncle may be dead, unmarried, or alive and married--what difference does it make?"
"Certainty is very necessary in these things," Peter replied severely.
The pen in his hand, he became a different man. "Your uncle, Mr. Anthony Soane, as I understand, is alive?"
"He disappeared in the Scotch troubles in "45," Sir George reluctantly explained, "was disinherited in favour of my father, sir, and has not since been heard from."
The attorney grew rigid with alertness; he was like nothing so much as a dog, expectant at a rat-hole. "Attainted?" he said.
"No!" said Sir George.
"Outlawed?"
"No."
The attorney collapsed: no rat in the hole. "Dear me, dear me, what a sad story!" he said; and then remembering that his client had profited, "but out of evil--ahem! As I understand, sir, you wish all your real property, including the capital mansion house and demesne, to go to the eldest son of your uncle Mr. Anthony Soane in tail, remainder to the second son in tail, and, failing sons, to daughters--the usual settlement, in a word, sir."
"Yes."
"No exceptions, sir."
"None."
"Very good," the attorney answered with the air of a man satisfied so far. "And failing issue of your uncle? To whom then, Sir George?"
"To the Earl of Chatham."
Mr. Fishwick jumped in his seat; then bowed profoundly.
"Indeed! Indeed! How very interesting!" he murmured under his breath.
"Very remarkable! Very remarkable, and flattering."
Sir George stooped to explain. "I have no near relations," he said shortly. "Lord Chatham--he was then Mr. Pitt--was the executor of my grandfather"s will, is connected with me by marriage, and at one time acted as my guardian."
Mr. Fishwick licked his lips as if he tasted something very good. This was business indeed! These were names with a vengeance! His face shone with satisfaction; he acquired a sudden stiffness of the spine. "Very good, sir," he said. "Ve--ry good," he said. "In fee simple, I understand?"
"Yes."
"Precisely. Precisely; no uses or trusts? No. Unnecessary of course.
Then as to personalty, Sir George?"
"A legacy of five hundred guineas to George Augustus Selwyn, Esquire, of Matson, Gloucestershire. One of the same amount to Sir Charles Bunbury, Baronet. Five hundred guineas to each of my executors; and to each of these four a mourning ring."
"Certainly, sir. All very n.o.ble gifts!" And Mr. Fishwick smacked his lips.
For a moment Sir George looked his offence; then seeing that the attorney"s ecstasy was real and unaffected, he smiled. "To my land-steward two hundred guineas," he said; "to my house-steward one hundred guineas, to the housekeeper at Estcombe an annuity of twenty guineas. Ten guineas and a suit of mourning to each of my upper servants not already mentioned, and the rest of my personalty--"
"After payment of debts and funeral and testamentary expenses," the lawyer murmured, writing busily.
Sir George started at the words, and stared thoughtfully before him: he was silent so long that the lawyer recalled his attention by gently repeating, "And the residue, honoured sir?"
"To the Thatched House Society for the relief of small debtors," Sir George answered, between a sigh and a smile. And added, "They will not gain much by it, poor devils!"
Mr. Fishwick with a rather downcast air noted the bequest. "And that is all, sir, I think?" he said with his head on one side. "Except the appointment of executors."
"No," Sir George answered curtly. "It is not all. Take this down and be careful. As to the trust fund of fifty thousand pounds"--the attorney gasped, and his eyes shone as he seized the pen anew. "Take this down carefully, man, I say," Sir George continued. "As to the trust fund left by my grandfather"s will to my uncle Anthony Soane or his heirs conditionally on his or their returning to their allegiance and claiming it within the s.p.a.ce of twenty-one years from the date of his will, the interest in the meantime to be paid to me for my benefit, and the princ.i.p.al sum, failing such return, to become mine as fully as if it had vested in me from the beginning--"
"Ah!" said the attorney, scribbling fast, and with distended cheeks.
"I leave the said fund to go with the land."
"To go with the land," the lawyer repeated as he wrote the words. "Fifty thousand pounds! Prodigious! Prodigious! Might I ask, sir, the date of your respected grandfather"s will?"
"December, 1746," Sir George answered.
"The term has then nine months to run?"
"Yes."
"With submission, then it comes to this," the lawyer answered thoughtfully, marking off the points with his pen in the air. "In the event of--of this will operating--all, or nearly all of your property, Sir George, goes to your uncle"s heirs in tail--if to be found--and failing issue of his body to my Lord Chatham?"
"Those are my intentions."
"Precisely, sir," the lawyer answered, glancing at the clock. "And they shall be carried out. But--ahem! Do I understand, sir, that in the event of a claimant making good his claim before the expiration of the nine months, you stand to lose this stupendous, this magnificent sum--even in your lifetime?"
"I do," Sir George answered grimly. "But there will be enough left to pay your bill."
Peter stretched out his hands in protest, then, feeling that this was unprofessional, he seized the pen. "Will you please to honour me with the names of the executors, sir?" he said.
"Dr. Addington, of Harley Street."
"Yes, sir."