Part 23 (1/2)
The imprudent young man deceived both himself and her who trusted in his pleasing plausibilities. Ten minutes after he had disclosed the marriage to his father, he was turned, almost penniless, out of doors; and the exasperated and inexorable old man refused to listen to any representation in his favor, by whomsoever proffered, and finally, even to permit the mention of his name in his hearing.
”It's of no use,” said Mr. Flint, on returning for the last time, from a mission undertaken to extort, if possible, some provision against absolute starvation for the newly-wedded couple. ”He is as cold and hard as adamant, and I think, if possible, even more of a tiger than before.
He will be here presently to give instructions for his will.”
”His will! Surely he will draw that up himself after his own common-sense, business fas.h.i.+on?”
”He would unquestionably have done so a short time since; but some events that have lately occurred have considerably shaken his estimate of his own infallibility, and he is, moreover, determined, he says, that there shall be no mistake as to effectually disinheriting his son. He has made two or three heavy losses, and his mind is altogether in a very cankered, distempered state.”
Mr. Linden called, as he had promised to do, and gave us the written heads of a will which he desired to have at once formally drawn up. By this instrument he devised the Holmford estate, and all other property, real and personal, of which he might die possessed, to certain charitable inst.i.tutions, in varying proportions, payable as soon after his death as the property could be turned into money. ”The statute of mortmain does not give me much uneasiness,” remarked the vindictive old man with a bitter smile. ”I shall last some time yet. I would have left it all to you, Flint,” he added, ”only that I knew you would defeat my purpose by giving it back to that disobedient, ungrateful, worthless boy.”
”Do leave it to me,” rejoined Mr. Flint, with grave emphasis, ”and I promise you faithfully this--that the wish respecting it, whatever it may be, which trembles on your lip as you are about to leave this world for another, and when it may be too late to formally revoke the testament you now propose, shall be strictly carried out. That time cannot be a very distant one, John Linden, for a man whose hair is white as yours.”
It was preaching to the winds. He was deaf, blind, mute, to every attempt at changing his resolve. The will was drawn in accordance with his peremptorily-iterated instructions, and duly signed, sealed, and attested. Not very long afterwards, Mr. Linden disposed of his business in Mincing Lane, and retired to Holmford, but with nothing like the money-fortune he had once calculated upon, the losses alluded to by Mr.
Flint, and followed by others, having considerably diminished his wealth.
We ultimately obtained a respectable and remunerative situation for Thomas Linden in a mercantile house at Belfast, with which we were professionally acquainted, and after securing berths in the _Erin_ steamer, he, with his wife and mother-in-law, came, with a kind of hopeful sadness in their looks and voices, to bid us farewell--for a very long time, they and we also feared--
For an eternity, it seemed, on reading the account of the loss of the _Erin_, a few days afterwards, with every soul on board! Their names were published with those of the other pa.s.sengers who had embarked, and we had of course concluded that they had perished, when a letter reached us from Belfast, stating that, through some delay on the part of Mrs. Arnold, they had happily lost their pa.s.sage in the _Erin_, and embarked in the next steamer for Belfast, where they arrived in perfect safety. We forwarded this intelligence to Holmford, but it elicited no reply.
We heard nothing of Mr. Linden for about two months, except by occasional notices in the ”Hereford Times”, which he regularly forwarded to the office, relative to the improvements on the Holmford estate, either actually begun or contemplated by its new proprietor. He very suddenly reappeared. I was cooling my heels in the waiting-room of the chambers of the Barons of the Exchequer, Chancery Lane, awaiting my turn of admission, when one of our clerks came in, half-breathless with haste.
”You are wanted, sir, immediately; Mr. Flint is out, and Mr. Linden is at the office raving like a mad-man.” I instantly transferred the business I was in attendance at chambers upon, to the clerk, and with the help of a cab soon reached home.
Mr. Linden was not _raving_ when I arrived. The violence of the paroxysm of rage and terror by which he was possessed had pa.s.sed away, and he looked, as I entered, the image of pale, rigid, iron, dumb despair. He held a letter and a strip of parchment in his hand; these he presented, and with white, stammering lips, bade me read. The letter was from an attorney of the name of Sawbridge, giving notice of an action of ejectment, to oust him from the possession of the Holmford estate, the property, according to Mr. Sawbridge, of one Edwin Majoribanks; and the strip of parchment was the writ by which the letter had been quickly followed. I was astounded; and my scared looks questioned Mr. Linden for further information.
”I do not quite understand it,” he said in a hoa.r.s.e, palpitating voice.
”No possession or t.i.tle in the venders; a niece not of age--executors no power to sell--Palliser discovered it, robbed me, absconded, and I, oh G.o.d! am a miserable beggar!”
The last words were uttered with a convulsive scream, and after a few frightful struggles he fell down in a fit. I had him conveyed to bed, and as soon as he was somewhat recovered, I hastened off to ascertain from Sawbridge, whom I knew very intimately, the nature of the claim intended to be set up for the plaintiff, Edwin Majoribanks.
I met Sawbridge just as he was leaving his office, and as he was in too great a hurry to turn back, I walked along with him, and he rapidly detailed the chief facts about to be embodied in the plaintiff's declaration. Archibald Dursley, once a London merchant, and who died a bachelor, had bequeathed his estate, real and personal, to his brother Charles, and a niece, his sister's child--two-thirds to the niece, and one-third to the brother. The Holmford property, the will directed, should be sold by public auction when the niece came of age, unless she, by marriage or otherwise, was enabled, within six months after attaining her majority, to pay over to Charles Dursley his third in money, according to a valuation made for the purpose by competent a.s.sessors. The brother, Charles Dursley, had urged upon the executors to antic.i.p.ate the time directed by the will for the sale of the property; and having persuaded the niece to give a written authorization for the immediate sale, the executors, chiefly, Sawbridge supposed, prompted by their own necessities, sold the estate accordingly. But the niece not being of age when she signed the authority to sell, her consent was of no legal value; and she having since died intestate, Edwin Majoribanks, her cousin and undoubted heir-at-law--for the property could not have pa.s.sed from her, even by marriage--now claimed the estate. Charles Dursley, the brother, was dead; ”and,” continued Mr. Sawbridge, ”the worst of it is, Linden will never get a farthing of his purchase-money from the venders, for they are bankrupt, nor from Palliser, who has made permanent arrangements for continuing abroad, out of harm's reach. It is just as I tell you,”
he added, as we shook hands at parting; ”but you will of course see the will, and satisfy yourself. Good-by.”
Here was a precious result of amateur common-sense lawyers.h.i.+p! Linden could only have examined the abstract of t.i.tle furnished him by Palliser's attorney, and not the right of Dursley's executors to sell; or had not been aware that the niece could not during her minority, subscribe an effective legal consent.
I found Mr. Flint at the office, and quickly imparted the astounding news. He was as much taken aback as myself.
”The obstinate, pig-headed old a.s.s!” he exclaimed; ”it almost serves him right, if only for his Tom-fool nonsense of 'Every man his own lawyer.'
What did you say was the niece's name?”
”Well, I don't remember that Sawbridge told me--he was in such a hurry; but suppose you go at once and look over the will?”
”True: I will do so;” and away he went.
”This is a very singular affair, Sharp,” said Mr. Flint on his return from Doctors' Commons, at the same time composedly seating himself, hooking his thumbs into the arm-holes of his waistcoat, crossing his legs, and tilting his chair back on its hind legs. ”A very singular affair. Whom, in the name of the G.o.d of thieves--Mercury, wasn't he called?--do you suppose the bankrupt executors to be? No other,”
continued Mr. Flint with a sudden burst, ”than Crowther & Jenkins!”
”The devil!--and the niece then is”--