Part 10 (1/2)
”Ah! you discussed his will with him, then?”
She was horrified at his implication. She cried, ”Oh, I begged him not to, but he insisted.”
”He said there were other heirs and they might contest his will. Did he mention the heirs?”
”No, sir. I don't think so. I don't remember that he did.”
”He did not by any chance refer to the other grandparents of the two children? Mr. and Mrs. Oakby, the father and mother of the father of Victor and Bettina?”
”He didn't refer to them, I'm sure. Yes, I am quite sure.”
”Did he say that his money would be left in trust for his grandchildren?”
”No.”
”And he gave you twenty thousand pounds just out of generosity?”
”Yes. Yes, Mr. Verrinder.”
”It was a fairish amount of money for messenger fees, wasn't it? And it came to you while you were carrying those letters to Nicky?”
”No! Sir Joseph had been ill. He had had a stroke of paralysis.”
”And you were afraid he might have another?”
”No!”
”You were not afraid of that?”
”Yes, of course I was, but-- What are you trying to make me say--that I went to him and demanded the money?”
”That idea occurs to you, does it?”
She writhed with disgust at the suggestion. Yet it had a clammy plausibility. Mr. Verrinder went on:
”These messages, you say, concerned a financial transaction?”
”So papa told me.”
”And you believed him?”
”Naturally.”
”You never doubted him?”
All the tortures of doubt that had a.s.sailed her recurred to her now and paralyzed her power to utter the ringing denial that was needed.
He went on:
”Didn't it strike you as odd that Sir Joseph should be willing to pay you twenty thousand pounds just to carry messages concerning some mythical business?”
She did not answer. She was afraid to commit herself to anything.