CHAPTER II
AN EXTRAORDINARY DOCUMENT
It appears that the Messrs. Skaggs and Wyckholme, as their dual careerdrew to a close, set about to learn what had become of their daughters.Investigation proved that Wyckholme's daughter had married a Londonartist named Ruthven. The Ruthvens in turn had one child, a daughter.Wyckholme's wife and his daughter died when this grandchild was eight orten years old. By last report, the grandchild was living with her fatherin London. She was a pretty young woman with scores of admirers on herhands and a very level head on her shoulders.
Wyckholme held to his agreement with Skaggs by bequeathing his share ofthe property to him, but it was definitely set forth that at the deathof his partner it was to go to Agnes Ruthven, the grandchild--withreservations.
Skaggs found that his daughter, who married Browne the American,likewise had died, but that she had left behind a son and heir. Thisson, Robert Browne, was in school when the joint will was designed, andhe was to have Skaggs's fortune at the death of Wyckholme, in case thatworthy survived.
All this would have been very simple had it not been for theinstructions and conditions agreed upon by the two men. In order to keepthe business and the property intact and under the perpetual control ofone partnership, the granddaughter of Wyckholme was to marry thegrandson of Skaggs within the year after the death of the survivingpartner. The penalty to be imposed upon them if the conditions were notcomplied with--neither to be excusable for the defection of theother--lay in the provision that the whole industry and its accumulatedfortune, including the land (and they owned practically the entireisland), was to go to the islanders--or, in plain words, to the originalowners, their heirs, share and share alike, all of which was set forthconcisely in a separate document attached. Wyckholme named Sir JohnAllencrombie as one executor and Skaggs selected Alfred Bowen, ofBoston, as the other.
As Wyckholme was the first to die, Skaggs became sole owner of theisland and its treasures, and it was he who made the final will inaccordance with the original plans.
The island of Japat with its jewels and its ancient chateau--of modernconstruction--represented several million pounds sterling. Its ownershad accumulated a vast fortune, but, living in seclusion as they did,were hard put for means to spend any considerable part of it.Wyckholme's dream of erecting an exact replica of a famous old chateaufound response in the equally whimsical Skaggs, who constantly bemoanedthe fact that it was impossible to spend money. For five years after itscompletion the two old men, with an army of Arabian retainers and Nubianslaves, lived like Oriental potentates in the huge structure on thehighlands overlooking the sea.
Skaggs seldom went from one part of his home to another without a guide.It was so vast and so labyrinthine that he feared he might become lostforever. The dungeon below the chateau, and the moat with its bridges,were the especial delight of these lonely, romantic old chaps. One ofthe builders of this rare pile was now sleeping peacefully in thesarcophagus beneath the chapel; the other was lying dead andundiscovered in the very heart of his possessions. Their executors weresourly wondering whether the two venerable testators were not even thengrinning from those far-away sepulchres in contemplation of the firstfeud their unprimitive castle was to know.
The magnificent plans of the partners would have been a glorious tributeto romance had it not been for one fatal obstacle. The trouble was thatneither young Miss Ruthven nor young Mr. Browne knew that theirgrandfathers lived, much less that they owned an island in the SouthSeas. Therefore it is quite natural that they could not have known theywere expected to marry each other. In complete but blissful ignorancethat the other existed, the young legatees fell in love with personsunmentioned in the will and performed the highly commendable butexceedingly complicating act of matrimony. This emergency, it is humaneto suspect, had not revealed itself to either of the grandfathers.
Miss Ruthven, from motives peculiar to the head and not to the heart,set about to earn a title for herself. Three months before the death ofMr. Skaggs she was married to Lord Deppingham, who possessed a title anda country place that rightfully belonged to his creditors. Mr. Browne,just out of college, hung out his shingle as a physician and surgeon,and forthwith, with all the confidence his profession is supposed toinspire, proceeded to marry the daughter of a brokerage banker in Bostonand at once found himself struggling with the difficulties of Back Baysociety.
A clause in the will, letter of instruction attached, demanded that thetwo grandchildren should take up their residence in the chateau withinsix months after the death of the testator, there to remain through thecompulsory days of courtship up to and including the wedding day. Fourmonths had already passed. It was also stipulated that the executorsshould receive L10,000 each at the expiration of their year ofservitude, provided it was shown in court that they had carried out thewishes of the testator, or, in failing, had made the most diligenteffort within human power.
"It is very explicit," murmured Mr. Hare, for the third time. "I supposethe first step is to notify young Mr. Browne of his misfortune. Hislordship has the task of breaking the news to Lady Deppingham."
"You are assuming that I intend to act under this ridiculous will."
"Certainly. It means about $50,000 to you at the end of the year, withnothing to do but to notify two persons of the terms in the will. Ifthey're not divorced and married again at the end of the year, you andSir John simply turn everything over to the Malays or whatever they are.It's something like 'dust to dust,' isn't it, after all? I think it'seasy sledding for you."
Mr. Bowen was eventually won over by Mr. Hare's enthusiasm."Notifications" took wing and flew to different parts of the world,while many lawyers hovered like vultures to snatch at the bones should awar at law ensue.
Young Mr. Browne (he was hardly a doctor even in name) hastened downtownin response to a message from the American executor, and was told of thewill which had been filed in England, the home land of the testator. Tosay that this debonair, good-looking young gentleman was flabbergastedwould be putting it more than mildly. There is no word in the Englishlanguage strong enough to describe his attitude at that perilous moment.
"What shall I do--what can I do, Mr. Bowen?" he gasped, bewildered.
"Consult an attorney," advised Mr. Bowen promptly.
"I'll do it," shouted "Bobby" Browne, one time halfback on his collegeeleven. "Break the will for me, Mr. Bowen, and I'll give--"
"I can't break it, Bobby. I'm its executor."
"Good Lord! Well, then, who is the best will-breaker you know, please?Something has to be done right away."
"I'm afraid you don't grasp the situation. Now if you were not marriedit would--"
"I wouldn't give up my wife for all the islands in the universe. That'ssettled. You don't know how happy we are. She's the--"
"Yes, yes, I know," interrupted the wily Mr. Bowen. "Don't tell me aboutit. She's a stumbling block, however, even though we are agreed thatshe's a most delightful one. Your co-legatee also possesses a block,perhaps not so delicate, but I daresay she feels the same about hers asyou do about yours. I can't advise you, my boy. Go and see Judge Garrettover in the K---- building. They say he expects to come back from thegrave to break his own will."
Ten minutes later an excited young man rushed into an office in theK---- building. Two minutes afterward he was laying the case before thatdistinguished old counsellor, Judge Abner Garrett.
"You will have to fight it jointly," said Judge Garrett, afterextracting the wheat from the chaff of Browne's remarks. "You can't takehers away from her and she can't get yours. We must combine against thenatives. Come back to-morrow at two."
Promptly at two Browne appeared, eager-eyed and nervous. He had leftbehind him at home a miserable young woman with red eyes and chokingbreath who bemoaned the cruel conviction that she stood between him andfortune.
"But hang it all, dearest, I wouldn't marry that girl if I had thechance. I'd marry you all over again to-day if I could," he had criedout to her, but she
wondered all afternoon if he really meant it. Itnever entered her head to wonder if Lady Deppingham was old or young,pretty or ugly, bright or dull. She had been Mrs. Browne for threemonths and she could not quite understand how she had been so happy upto this sickening hour.
Judge Garrett had a copy of the will in his hand. He looked dubious,even dismayed.
"It's as sound as the rock of Gibraltar," he announced dolefully.
"You don't mean it!" gasped poor Bobby, mopping his fine Harvard brow,his six feet of manhood shrinking perceptibly as he looked about for achair in which to collapse. "C--can't it be smashed?"
"It might be an easy matter to prove either of these old gentlemen tohave been insane, but the two of them together make it out of thequestion----"
"Darned unreasonable."
"What do you mean, sir?" indignantly.
"I mean--oh, you know what I mean. The conditions and all that. Why, theold chumps must have been trying to prove their grandchildren insanewhen they made that will. Nobody but imbeciles would marry people they'dnever seen. I----"
"But the will provides for a six months' courtship, Dr. Browne, I'msorry to say. You might learn to love a person in less time and stillretain your mental balance, you know, especially if she were pretty andan heiress to half your own fortune. I daresay that is what they werethinking about."
"Thinking? They weren't thinking of anything at all. They weren'tcapable. Why didn't they consider the possibility that things might turnout just as they have?"
"Possibly they did consider it, my boy. It looks to me as if they didnot care a rap whether it went to their blood relatives or to theislanders. I fancy of the two they loved the islanders more. At anyrate, they left a beautiful opening for the very complications which nowconspire to give the natives their own, after all. There may be somesort of method in their badness. More than likely they concluded to letluck decide the matter."
"Well, I guess it has, all right."
"Don't lose heart. It's worth fighting for even if you lose. I'd hate tosee those islanders get all of it, even if you two can't marry eachother. I've thought it over pretty thoroughly and I've reached aconclusion. It's necessary for both of you to be on the ground accordingto schedule. You must go to the island, wife or no wife, and there's notmuch time to be lost. Lady Deppingham won't let the grass grow under herfeet if I know anything about the needs of English nobility, and I'llbet my hat she's packing her trunks now for a long stay in Japat. Youhave farther to go than she, but you _must_ get over there inside ofsixty days. I daresay your practice can take care of itself,"ironically. Browne nodded cheerfully. "You can't tell what may happen inthe next six months."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's possible that you may become a widower and she a wid--"
"Good heaven, Judge Garrett! Impossible!" gasped Bobby Browne, clutchingthe arms of his chair.
"Nothing is impossible, my boy--"
"Well, if that's what you're counting on you can count me out, I won'tspeculate on my wife's death."
"But, man, suppose that it _did_ happen!" roared the judge irascibly."You should be prepared for the best--I mean the worst. Don't look likea sick dog. We've got to watch every corner, that's all, and beJohnny-on-the-spot when the time comes. You go to the island at once.Take your wife along if you like. You'll find her ladyship there, andshe'll need a woman to tell her troubles to. I'll have the papers readyfor you to sign in three days, and I don't think we'll have any troublegetting the British heirs to join in the suit to overthrow the will. Theonly point is this: the islanders must not have the advantage that yourabsence from Japat will give to them. Now, I'll----"
"But, good Lord, Judge Garrett, I can't go to that confounded island,"wailed Browne. "Take my wife over among those heathenish----"
"Do you expect me to handle this case for you, sir?"
"Sure."
"Then let me handle it. Don't interfere. When you start in to getsomebody else's money you have to do a good many things you don't like,no matter whether you are a lawyer or a client."
"But I don't like the suggestion that my wife will be obliged to die inorder----"
"Please leave all the details to me, Mr. Browne. It may not be necessaryfor her to die. There are other alternatives in law. Give the lawyers achance. We'll see what we can do. Besides, it would be unreasonable toexpect his lordship to die also. All you have to do is to plant yourselfon that island and stay there until we tell you to get off."
"Or the islanders push me off," lugubriously.
"Now, listen intently and I'll tell you just what you are to do."
Young Mr. Browne went away at dusk, half reeling under theresponsibility of existence, and eventually reached the side of theanxious young woman uptown. He bared the facts and awaited the wail ofdismay.
"I think it will be perfectly jolly," she cried, instead, and kissed himrapturously.
Over on the opposite side of the Atlantic the excitement in certaincircles was even more intense than that produced in Boston. LordDeppingham needed the money, but he was a whole day in grasping the factthat his wife could not have it and him at the same time. The beautifuland fashionable Lady Deppingham, once little Agnes Ruthven, came as nearto having hysteria as Englishwomen ever do, but she called in a lawyerinstead of a doctor. For three days she neglected her social duties (andthey were many), ignored her gallant admirers (and they were many), andhurried back and forth between home and chambers so vigorously that hislordship was seldom closer than a day behind in anything she did.
There was a great rattling of trunks, a jangling of keys, a thousandgood-byes, a cast-off season, and the Deppinghams were racing away forthe island of Japat somewhere in the far South Seas.