Volume Ii Part 21 (1/2)
”If it be a conspiracy, there is no treatment too bad for those who have put the plot together!” exclaimed Harry. ”What a double-dyed villain Clapp must be!”
”He will end his career in the State-Prison,” said Mr. Wyllys.
”The Hubbards, too; that is another disagreeable part of the business,” said Harry.
”I am truly sorry for them,” replied Mr. Wyllys. ”It will give them great pain.”
”What steps shall we first take, sir?” inquired Harry.
”We must look into the matter immediately, of course, and find out upon what grounds they are at work.”
”I am utterly at a loss to comprehend it!” exclaimed Mrs.
Stanley. ”Such a piece of bare-faced audacity!”
”Clapp must rest all his hope of success on our want of positive proof as to the death of William Stanley,” observed Harry. ”But his having dared to bring forward an individual to personate the dead man, is really a height of impudence that I should never have conceived of.”
”If I did not know him to be an incarnation of cunning, I should think he had lost his senses,” replied Mr. Wyllys; ”but happily for honest men, rogues generally overreach themselves; after they have spread their nets, made the mesh as intricate as possible, they almost invariably fall into their own snare. Such will, undoubtedly, be the result in this case.”
”Had you not better return to Longbridge at once,” said Mrs.
Stanley, ”in order to inquire into the matter?”
”Certainly; we had better all be on the spot; though I am confident we shall unmask the rogues very speedily. You were already pledged to return with us, Mrs. Stanley; and I shall be glad to see you at Wyllys-Roof, again, Harry.”
”Thank you, sir; you are very good,” replied Hazlehurst, with something more than the common meaning in the words; for he coloured a little on remembering the occurrences of his last visit to Longbridge, more than three years since.
”We shall find it difficult,” continued Mr. Wyllys, ”to get an insight into Clapp's views and plans. He will, no doubt, be very wary in all he does; though voluble as ever in what he says. I know his policy of old; he reverses the saying of the cunning Italian, volto sciolto, bocca stretta.”
{”volto sciolto, bocca stretta” = open countenance, tight lips (Italian)}
”But his first step has not been a cautious one,” observed Harry.
”It is singular he should have allowed his client to write to Mrs. Stanley. Do you remember William Stanley's handwriting distinctly?” he added, again handing the letter to Mr. Wyllys.
”Yes; and it must be confessed this hand resembles his; they must have got possession of some of young Stanley's handwriting.”
”But how could they possibly have done so?” said Mrs. Stanley.
”That is what we must try to find out, my dear madam.”
”He must have been very confident that it was a good imitation,”
said Hazlehurst; ”for, of course, he knew you must possess letters of William Stanley's. I don't remember to have seen anything but his signature, myself.”
”Yes; it is a good imitation--very good; of course Clapp was aware of it, or the letter would never have been sent.”
”William was very like his father in appearance, though not in character,” observed Mrs. Stanley, thoughtfully. ”He was very like him.”
”Should this man look like my poor husband, I might have some misgivings,” said Mrs. Stanley. ”We must remember at least, my dear Mr. Wyllys, that it is not impossible that William may be living.”
”Only one of the most improbable circ.u.mstances you could name, my dear friend. I wish to see the man, however, myself; for I have little doubt that I shall be able at once to discover the imposture, entirely to our own satisfaction at least--and that is the most important point.”
”Should the case present an appearance of truth, sufficient to satisfy a jury, though we ourselves were not convinced, it would still prove a very serious thing to you, my dear Harry,” observed Mrs. Stanley.
”No doubt: very serious to Hazlehurst, and a loss to all three.