Part 24 (2/2)

”Well, gentlemen,” he said, when they had all gathered about his desk.

”Lord Ellingham has informed me of what pa.s.sed between you and himself at his house yesterday. In plain language, the client whom you represent claims to be the Lord Marketstoke who disappeared so completely many years ago, and therefore the rightful Earl of Ellingham. Now, a first question--do you, as his legal advisers, believe in his claim?”

”Judging by the proofs with which he has furnished us, yes,” answered Methley. ”There seems to be no doubt of it.”

”We'll ask for these proofs presently,” remarked Mr. Carless. ”But now a further question: Your client--whom we'll now call the claimant--had, I understand, no desire to take up his rightful position, and suggests that the secret shall remain a secret, and that he shall be paid a hundred thousand pounds to hold his tongue?”

”If you put it that way--yes,” replied Methley.

”I don't know in what other way it could be put,” said Mr. Carless grimly. ”It's the plain truth. But now, if Lord Ellingham refuses that offer, does your client intend to commence proceedings?”

”Our instructions are--yes,” answered Methley.

”Very good,” said Mr. Carless. ”Now, then--what are these proofs?”

Methley turned to his partner, who immediately thrust a hand in his breastpocket and produced a long envelope.

”I have them here,” said Woodlesford. ”Our client intrusted them to us so that we might show them to Lord Ellingham, if necessary. There are not many doc.u.ments--they all relate to the period of our client's life before he left England. There are one or two important letters from his father, the seventh Earl, two or three from his mother; there is also his mother's will. There is one letter from his younger brother, to whom he had evidently, more than once, announced his determination of leaving home for a considerable time. There are two letters from your own firm, relating to some property which Lord Marketstoke disposed of before he left London. There is a schedule or memorandum of certain personal effects which he left in his rooms at Ellingham Hall: there is also a receipt from his bankers for a quant.i.ty of plate and jewellery which he had deposited with them before leaving--these things had been left him by his mother. There are also two doc.u.ments which he seems to have considered it worth while to preserve all these years,” concluded Woodlesford with a smile. ”One is a letter informing him that he had been elected a member of the M.C.C.; the other is his commission as a justice of the peace for the county of Buckinghams.h.i.+re.”

As he detailed these things, Woodlesford laid each specified paper before Mr. Carless, and then they all gathered round, and examined each exhibit.

The various doc.u.ments were somewhat faded with age, and the edges of some were worn as if from long folding and keeping in a pocketbook. Mr.

Carless hastily ran his eye over them.

”Very interesting, gentlemen,” he remarked. ”But you know, as well as I do, that these things don't prove your client to be the missing Lord Marketstoke. A judge and jury would want a lot more evidence than that.

The mere fact that your man is in possession of all these doc.u.ments proves nothing whatever. He may have stolen them!”

”From what we have seen of our client, Mr. Carless,” observed Methley, with some stiffness of manner, ”there is no need for such a suggestion.”

”I dare say we shall all see a good deal of your client before this matter is settled, Mr. Methley,” retorted Mr. Carless. ”And even when I have seen a lot of him, I should still say the same--he _may_ have stolen them! What else has he to prove that he's what he says he is?”

”He is fully conversant with his family history,” said Woodlesford. ”He can give a perfectly full and--so far as we can judge--accurate account of his early life and of his subsequent doings. He evidently knows all about Ellingham Hall, Marketstoke and the surroundings. I think if you were to examine him on these points, you would find that his memory is surprisingly fresh.”

”I have no doubt that it will come to his being examined on a great many points and in much detail,” said Mr. Carless with a dry smile. ”Of course, I shall be much interested in seeing him. You see, I remember the missing Lord Marketstoke very well indeed--he was often in here when I, as a lad of nineteen or twenty, was articled to my own father. And now, gentlemen, I'll ask you a question and commend it to your intelligence and common sense: if your client is this man he claims to be, why didn't he come straight to Carless and Driver, whom he would remember well enough, instead of going to Methley and Woodlesford? Come, now?”

Neither visitor answered this question, and Mr. Pawle suddenly turned on them with another.

”Did your client mention to you that he knew Carless and Driver as the family solicitors?” he asked.

”No, I can't say that he did,” admitted Methley. ”After all, thirty-five years' absence, you know--”

”You said just now that his memory was surprisingly fresh,” interrupted Mr. Pawle.

”Surely,” replied Woodlesford, ”surely you can't expect a man who has been away from England all that time to remember everything!”

”I should have expected Lord Marketstoke to have gone straight to the family solicitors, anyway,” retorted Mr. Pawle. ”Obvious thing to do--if his story is a true one.”

Woodlesford glanced at his partner, and repossessing himself of the doc.u.ments, began to arrange them in the envelope from which he had drawn them.

<script>