Volume Ii Part 25 (1/2)
”Pretty much the same errand that brings me now.”
”What pa.s.sed on the occasion?”
”I can't say I remember much about it, excepting that you did not give me an over-friendly greeting.”
”Explain how it happened, Mr. Stanley,” said Mr. Reed, ”Mr.
Wyllys does not understand you.”
”I certainly cannot understand what you mean me to believe. You say you were here, and did not receive a very friendly greeting--how was it unfriendly?”
”Why, you showed me the inside of your smoke-house; which, to my notion, wasn't just the right berth for the son of your old friend, and I took the liberty of kicking off the hatches next morning, and making the best of my way out of the neighbourhood.”
”You remember the drunken sailor, sir, who was found one night, several years since, near the house,” interrupted Harry, who had been listening attentively, and observed Mr. Wyllys's air of incredulity. ”I had him locked up in the smoke-house, you may recollect.”
”And you must observe, Mr. Hazlehurst, that is a fact which might look ugly before a jury that did not know you,” remarked Mr.
Clapp; in a sort of half-cunning, half-insinuating manner.
”I do not in the least doubt the ability of many men, sir, to distort actions equally innocent.”
”But you acknowledge the fact?”
”The fact that I locked up a drunken sailor, I certainly acknowledge; and you will find me ready to acknowledge any other fact equally true.”
”Do you believe this to be the person you locked up, Harry?”
asked Mr. Wyllys.
”I think it not improbable that it is the same individual; but I did not see the man distinctly at the time.”
”I am glad, gentlemen, that you are prepared to admit the ident.i.ty thus far--that is a step gained,” observed Mr. Clapp, running his hand through his locks.
”Permit me, Mr. Clapp, to ask you a question or two,” said Mr.
Wyllys. ”Now you recall that circ.u.mstance to me, I should like to ask, if we have not also heard of this individual since the occasion you refer to?”
”Yes, sir; you probably have heard of him since,” replied Mr.
Clapp, baldly.
”And in connexion with yourself, I think?”
”In connexion with me, sir. You will find me quite as ready as Mr. Hazlehurst to admit facts, sir,” replied the lawyer, leaning back in his chair.
”When they are undeniable,” observed Mr. Wyllys, drily. ”May I inquire what was the nature of that connexion?” asked the gentleman, with one of his searching looks.
The lawyer did not seem to quail beneath the scrutiny.
”The connexion, Mr. Wyllys, was the commencement of what has been completed recently. Mr. Stanley came to lay before me the claims which he now makes publicly.”
”You never made the least allusion to any claim of this kind to me, at that time,” said Mr. Wyllys.
”I didn't believe it then; I am free to say so now,”
”Still, not believing the claim, it was singular, I may say suspicious, sir, that you never even mentioned the individual who made it.”
”Why, to tell you the truth, Mr. Wyllys, I had unpleasant thoughts about it; we were neighbours and old friends, and though I might make up my mind to undertake the case, if I thought it clear, I did prefer that you should not know about my having had anything to do with it, as long as I thought it a doubtful point.