II
WITH MY EAR TO THE WAINSCOTING
No move more unwise could have been made by the old lawyer,--that is, ifhis intention had been to rid himself of an unwelcome witness. For,finding myself thrust thus suddenly from the scene, I naturally stoodstill instead of mounting the stairs, and, by standing still, discoveredthat though shut from sight I was not from sound. Distinctly through thepanel of the door, which was much thinner, no doubt, than the old foximagined, I heard one of the men present shout out:
"Well, that makes the number less by _one_!"
The murmur which followed this remark came plainly to my ears, and,greatly rejoicing over what I considered my good luck, I settled myselfon the lowest step of the stairs in the hope of catching some wordwhich would reveal to me the mystery of this scene.
It was not long in coming. Old Smead had now his audience before him ingood shape, and his next words were of a character to make evident thepurpose of this meeting.
"Heirs of Anthony Westonhaugh, deceased," he began in a sing-song voicestrangely unmusical, "I congratulate you upon your good fortune at beingat this especial moment on the inner rather than outer side of youramiable relative's front door. His will, which you have assembled tohear read, is well known to you. By it his whole property--(not so largeas some of you might wish, but yet a goodly property for farmers likeyourselves)--is to be divided this night, share and share alike, amongsuch of his relatives as have found it convenient to be present herebetween the strokes of half-past seven and eight. If some of our friendshave failed us through sloth, sickness or the misfortune of mistakingthe road, they have our sympathy, but they can not have _his dollars_."
"Can not have his dollars!" echoed a rasping voice which, from itssmothered sound, probably came from the bearded lips of the oldreprobate in the chair.
The lawyer waited for one or two other repetitions of this phrase (aphrase which, for some unimaginable reason, seemed to give him an oddsort of pleasure), then he went on with greater distinctness and acertain sly emphasis, chilling in effect but very professional:
"Ladies and gentlemen: Shall I read this will?"
"No, no! The division! the division! Tell us what we are to have!" rosein a shout about him.
There was a pause. I could imagine the sharp eyes of the lawyertraveling from face to face as each thus gave voice to his cupidity, andthe thin curl of his lips as he remarked in a slow tantalizing way:
"There was more in the old man's clutches than you think."
A gasp of greed shook the partition against which my ear was pressed.Some one must have drawn up against the wainscoting since my departurefrom the room. I found myself wondering which of them it was. Meantimeold Smead was having his say, with the smoothness of a man who perfectlyunderstands what is required of him.
"Mr. Westonhaugh would not have put you to so much trouble or had youwait so long if he had not expected to reward you amply. There areshares in this bag which are worth thousands instead of hundreds. Now,now! stop that! hands off! hands off! there are calculations to makefirst. How many of you are there? Count up, some of you."
"Nine!" called out a voice with such rapacious eagerness that the wordwas almost unintelligible.
"Nine." How slowly the old knave spoke! What pleasure he seemed to takein the suspense he purposely made as exasperating as possible!
"Well, if each one gets his share, he may count himself richer by twohundred thousand dollars than when he came in here to-night."
Two hundred thousand dollars! They had expected no more than thirty.Surprise made them speechless,--that is, for a moment; then apandemonium of hurrahs, shrieks and loud-voiced enthusiasm made the roomring, till wonder seized them again, and a sudden silence fell, throughwhich I caught a far-off wail of grief from the disappointed oneswithout, which, heard in the dark and narrow place in which I wasconfined, had a peculiarly weird and desolate effect.
Perhaps it likewise was heard by some of the fortunate ones within!Perhaps one head, to mark which, in this moment of universal elation, Iwould have given a year from my life, turned toward the dark without, inrecognition of the despair thus piteously voiced; but if so, no token ofthe same came to me, and I could but hope that she had shown, by somesuch movement, the natural sympathy of her sex.
Meanwhile the lawyer was addressing the company in his smoothest andmost sarcastic tones.
"Mr. Westonhaugh was a wise man, a very wise man," he droned. "Heforesaw what your pleasure would be, and left a letter for you. Butbefore I read it, before I invite you to the board he ordered to bespread for you in honor of this happy occasion, there is one appeal hebade me make to those I should find assembled here. As you know, he wasnot personally acquainted with all the children and grandchildren of hismany brothers and sisters. Salmon's sons, for instance, were perfectstrangers to him, and all those boys and girls of the Evans' branch havenever been long enough this side of the mountains for him to know theirnames, much less their temper or their lives. Yet his heirs--or such washis wish, his great wish--must be honest men, righteous in theirdealings, and of stainless lives. If therefore, any one among you feelsthat for reasons he need not state, he has no right to accept his shareof Anthony Westonhaugh's bounty, then that person is requested towithdraw before this letter to his heirs is read."
Withdraw? Was the man a fool? _Withdraw?_--these cormorants! thesesuckers of blood! these harpies and vultures! I laughed as I imaginedsneaking Hector, malicious Luke or brutal John responding to this naiveappeal, and then found myself wondering why no echo of my mirth camefrom the men themselves. They must have seen much more plainly than Idid the ludicrousness of their weak old kinsman's demand; yet Luke wasstill; Hector was still; and even John, and the three or four others Ihave mentioned gave forth no audible token of disdain or surprise. I wasasking myself what sentiment of awe or fear restrained these selfishsouls, when I became conscious of a movement within, which presentlyresolved itself into a departing foot-step.
Some conscience there had been awakened. Some one was crossing the floortoward the door. Who? I waited in anxious expectancy for the word whichwas to enlighten me. Happily it came soon, and from the old lawyer'slips.
"You do not feel yourself worthy?" he queried, in tones I had not heardfrom him before. "Why? What have you done that you should forego aninheritance to which these others feel themselves honestly entitled?"
The voice which answered gave both my mind and heart a shock. It was_she_ who had risen at this call. _She_, the only true-faced personthere!
Anxiously I listened for her reply. Alas! it was one of action ratherthan speech. As I afterward heard, she simply opened her long cloak andshowed a little infant slumbering in her arms.
"This is my reason," said she. "I have sinned in the eyes of the world,therefore I can not take my share of Uncle Anthony's money. I did notknow he exacted an unblemished record from those he expected to enrich,or I would not have come."
The sob which followed these last words showed at what a cost she thusrenounced a fortune of which she, of all present, perhaps, stood in thegreatest need; but there was no lingering in her step; and to me, whounderstood her fault only through the faint sound of infantile wailingwhich accompanied her departure, there was a nobility in her actionwhich raised her in an instant to an almost ideal height of unselfishvirtue.
Perhaps they felt this, too. Perhaps even these hardened men and themore than hardened woman whose presence was in itself a blight,recognized heroism when they saw it; for when the lawyer, with a certainobvious reluctance, laid his hand on the bolts of the door with theremark: "This is not my work, you know; I am but following outinstructions very minutely given me," the smothered growls and gruntswhich rose in reply lacked the venom which had been infused into alltheir previous comments.
"I think our friends out there are far enough withdrawn, by this time,for us to hazard the opening of the door," the lawyer now remarked."Madam, I hope you will speedily find your way to some comfortableshelter."
Then the door opened, and after a moment, closed again in a silencewhich at least was respectful. Yet I warrant there was not a soulremaining who had not already figured in his mind to what extent his ownfortune had been increased by the failure of one of their number toinherit.
As for me, my whole interest in the affair was at an end, and I was onlyanxious to find my way to where this desolate woman faced the mist withher unfed baby in her arms.