Part 38 (1/2)

With swift intuition each read the other's thought, and, although there was no outward sign, Harold Mainwaring knew from that instant that there would be no retraction of that pledge.

The slight ripple of excitement died away while the witness was sworn, and the crowd listened with interest even to the preliminary interrogatories.

”Where were you born?” asked the attorney.

”In Melbourne, Australia,” was the reply, while deep silence awaited Mr. Sutherland's next question.

”Mr. Mainwaring, I believe you are familiar with the will just read, are you not?”

”I am.”

”Please state when, and under what conditions, you gained your knowledge of this will.”

”I first learned that such a will had existed and knew its general terms, between five and six years since, through information given me by James Wilson. From data found a little over a year ago among the personal letters of the deceased Hugh Mainwaring, I ascertained that the will was still in existence, and on the 7th of July last I discovered the doc.u.ment itself and became personally familiar with its contents.”

At the mention of the name of Hugh Mainwaring and of the date so eventful in the recent history of Fair Oaks, the interest of the crowd deepened.

”Did you discover the doc.u.ment accidentally, or after special search for it?”

”As the result of a systematic search for more than a year.”

”Please state whether you took any steps leading to the discovery of this will during the four or five years immediately following your first knowledge of it; and if so, what?”

”As I first learned of the will soon after entering Oxford, my studies necessarily occupied the greater part of my time for the next three or four years; but I lost no opportunity for gaining all possible information relating not only to the Mainwaring estate, but more particularly to Hugh Mainwaring and his coadjutor, Richard Hobson. Among other facts, I learned that immediately after the settlement of the estate, Hugh Mainwaring had disposed of the same and left England for America, while about the same time Richard Hobson suddenly rose from a penniless pettifogger to a position of affluence.

”As soon as my studies were completed, I sailed for America, with the avowed determination of securing further evidence regarding the will, and of establis.h.i.+ng my claim to the property fraudulently withheld from my father and from myself. In the securing of the necessary evidence I succeeded beyond my expectations. As Hugh Mainwaring's private secretary, I gained access to the files of his personal letters, and soon was familiar with the entire correspondence between himself and Richard Hobson, from which I learned that the latter demanding and receiving large sums of money as the price of his silence regarding some past fraudulent transaction. The nature of that transaction, I ascertained in this marginal note, in Hugh Mainwaring's handwriting, upon one of Hobson's letters which happened to be more insolent in its tone than the rest. With the permission of the court I will read it:

”'He insinuates that I destroyed the will; I only gave him to understand that it was lost. Little he dreams it is still in my possession and will be, until such time as I, too, have to make final disposition of my estate! Why I did not destroy it, or why I do not, now that the property is rightfully mine, I cannot say, except that I dare not! ”Thus conscience does make cowards of us all?”'

”With the discovery of these words,” concluded the witness, ”began my search for the will itself.”

”From the discovery of this letter which led you to believe the will was still in existence, you prosecuted your search for the doc.u.ment until the 7th of last July?”

”Yes, sir, whenever an opportunity for search was offered.”

”Where did you finally find the will?”

”In the safe, in Mr. Mainwaring's private apartments at Fair Oaks.”

”On July 7 last?”

”Yes, sir.”

”That was the day on which you, acting as Hugh Mainwaring's secretary, had drawn, at his dictation, his last will and testament, was it not?”

”It was.”

”Mr. Mainwaring,” said the attorney, deliberately, his eye quick to read the faces about him, ”is there in your mind any connection between that event and your discovery of this will?”

”Only the most indirect,” was the reply, given with equal deliberation. ”The fact that Hugh Mainwaring was making final disposition of his property naturally spurred me on to increased action, since, in making final adjustment of his papers, he would be more than likely to destroy the old will. This incentive, together with the fact that opportunity was given me for a more thorough search than I had been able to make prior to that time, combined to bring about the discovery of the will.”