Part 28 (1/2)

Mr. Halfpenny considered this proposition for a moment or two; then having whispered to Peggie and received her a.s.sent, he went across to a safe and presently returned with the will, which he placed on a writing-pad that lay in front of him.

”Now, Mr. Tertius,” he said. ”Look at this will, which purports to have been made on the eighteenth day of April last. I understand that Jacob Herapath called you into his study on the evening of that day and told you that he wanted you and Mr. Burchill, his secretary, to witness his signature to a will which he had made--had written out himself. I understand also that you did witness his signature, attached your own, in Mr. Herapath's presence and Mr. Burchill's presence, and that Mr.

Burchill's signature was attached under the same conditions. Am I right in all this?”

”Quite right,” replied Mr. Tertius. ”Quite!”

”Is this the doc.u.ment which Jacob Herapath produced?”

”It is--certainly.”

”Was it all drawn out then?--I am putting these questions to you quite informally.”

”It was all written out, except the signatures. Jacob showed us that it was so written, though he did not allow us to see the wording. But he showed us plainly that there was nothing to do but to sign. Then he laid it on the desk, covered most of the sheet of paper with a piece of blotting paper and signed his name in our presence--I stood on one side of him, Mr. Burchill on the other. Then Mr. Burchill signed in his place--beneath mine.”

”And this,” asked Mr. Halfpenny, pointing to the will, ”this is your signature?”

”Most certainly!” answered Mr. Tertius.

”And this,” continued Mr. Halfpenny, ”is Jacob Herapath's?--and this Mr.

Burchill's? You have no doubt about it?”

”No more than that I see and hear you,” replied Mr. Tertius. ”I have no doubt.”

Mr. Halfpenny turned from Mr. Tertius to Barthorpe Herapath. But Barthorpe's face just then revealed nothing. Therefore the old lawyer turned towards Burchill. And suddenly a sharp idea struck him. He would settle one point to his own satisfaction at once, by one direct question. And so he--as it were by impulse--thrust the will before and beneath Burchill's eyes, and placed his finger against the third signature.

”Mr. Burchill,” he said, ”is that your writing?”

Burchill, calm and self-possessed, glanced at the place which Mr.

Halfpenny indicated, and then lifted his eyes, half sadly, half deprecatingly.

”No!” he replied, with a little shake of the head ”No, Mr. Halfpenny, it is not!”

CHAPTER XXIII

THE ACCUSATION

The old lawyer, who had bent forward across the table in speaking to Burchill, pulled himself up sharply on receiving this answer, and for a second or two stared with a keen, searching gaze at the man he had questioned, who, on his part, returned the stare with calm a.s.surance. A deep silence had fallen on the room; nothing broke it until Professor c.o.x-Raythwaite suddenly began to tap the table with the ends of his fingers. The sound roused Mr. Halfpenny to speech and action. He bent forward again towards Burchill, once more laying a hand on the will.

”That is not your signature?” he asked quietly.

Burchill shook his head--this time with a gesture of something very like contempt.

”It is not!” he answered.

”Did you see the late Jacob Herapath write--that?”

”I did not!”