CHAPTER VII.
ENTER MR. BROOKES.
When Lord Spunyarn and Lucius entered Mrs. Haggard's room they found herstretched upon a sofa, and to the inexperienced eye she presented verymuch her ordinary appearance; but as the young fellow, who had beennursed and tended by the invalid when he was a helpless friendlesschild, gazed upon the woman who had been a mother to him, he saw thatone corner of the mouth was slightly drawn. The old lord was seated byher side; her left hand was clasped in his; the marks of recent tearswere on the face of the old nobleman, and he roused himself with aneffort to welcome his heir.
"Mother," said the young fellow, as he took her other hand, "poormother!" And even the long-headed youth felt a pang, as he gazed uponthe wreck before him.
An answering smile illumined the suffering face as she heard thegreeting.
Then there was a pause of some length; and then the old man made hismoan, for the selfishness of age is as natural as the selfishness ofchildhood. This is what the possessor of countless wealth, and of allthe heart could desire to obtain, said in his cracked querulous oldvoice:
"All gone from me, wife and son, and nephews, all taken; and now she isstricken down, the joy of my dotage, the comfort of my old age. It'svery hard to bear," groaned the old man, and the hollow old eyes becamemoist again. But there was an answering pressure from the slender handwhich he held between his wrinkled fingers, and the old man's face waslighted up once more by a happy smile. "You won't leave me, Georgie," hecontinued, "for I can't spare you, my dear, I can't spare you." Againthere came the same answering pressure. But she spoke no word; heavenhad set the seal of silence on her lips; they moved, those pale lips,but no sound came from them; and then the sufferer made an impatientgesture. As she did so young George Haggard entered the room; his eyeswere red with weeping and he trod daintily upon the carpet, as a manwould do who feared to disturb a sleeping child. The sick woman smiledas he came to his brother's side and affectionately placed his hand uponLucius Haggard's shoulder; her eyes sought those of Lord Spunyarn, dweltupon his an instant, and then the lids closed upon the yet lovely orbs,and still smiling, like a tired child, Mrs. Haggard sank into a peacefulsleep.
No word was spoken by those around the couch; they sat silent, fearingto disturb her slumber. As Lucius Haggard gazed upon the sweet sleepingface, he was racked by torturing doubt. How would it all end? Would sherecover her bodily health again? The mind was evidently still uninjured._Would she ever speak again?_ That was the important question to LuciusHaggard. The papers gone and the mouth of this one witness closed, hefelt himself comparatively safe; still in the eyes of the law and of theworld his father's lawful heir. But should she speak again, she mightcommunicate the secret of his shame. Without her evidence all that LordSpunyarn might say could but be mere surmise, a simple _ex parte_statement.
One by one they left her sleeping, the old earl leaning heavily on thearm of Haggard's eldest son. And then they separated; the old lord tohis slumbers and his dreams and the society of the faithful Wolff, thetwo young fellows to the park, to wander up and down the great avenueside by side, and talk with bated breath over their fresh misfortune,the affliction that had befallen their mother; while Lord Spunyarnreturned to the examination of the mass of papers lying on the deadReginald Haggard's table, and to wait with impatience the arrival of thefamily solicitor.
"If there is a thing in this world that I hate," said old Mr. Brookes tohis partner, as he sat in his cosy private room in Lincoln's Inn Fieldsthat morning, "it's this modern system of telegrams; they're almost asbad as a doctor's night-bell. You have to go, whether you like it ornot. Here's probably some simple matter of common law. Why on earthcan't he write? Not a bit of it, he simply wires me, and I have to go,"and he handed a telegram across the table:
"Walls End Castle.
"Please come down at once. Your presence urgently needed.
"SPUNYARN."
"Why can't they write?"
That afternoon saw old Mr. Brookes at the Castle. He dined _tete-a-tete_with Lord Spunyarn, and did full justice to the cook's efforts. Lawyersare always epicures, and Mr. Brookes condescended to praise the _supremede volaille_ of the Walls End _chef_. After dinner they drew theirchairs to the fire, and then Lord Spunyarn opened his business.
"I'm glad you have come, Brookes; I'm very glad you've come."
"Something very serious, I suppose; something so urgent, Lord Spunyarn,that you couldn't have written me a letter and got my advice by the nextpost," and Mr. Brookes chuckled.
"Yes, Mr. Brookes, it was something so serious that I had to see you inperson. I fear there is a screw loose in the succession."
"Gad, sir, you don't mean that Hetton _was_ married after all?"
"No, it's not that. Since my poor friend Haggard's death, Mr. Brookes,I have been placed in a very difficult position. On his death-bedHaggard desired me to place a box containing letters and certainreminiscences of a bygone intrigue in his wife's hands. There is nothingvery extraordinary in that you will say; the man was sorry for hisyouthful error, and sought forgiveness. Quite so, but that was not theend of the matter." Spunyarn described to the old lawyer the contents ofthe box, the miniature, the mask, the earrings, and the packet ofletters. "Mr. Brookes," he continued, "as my friend's executor it wasperhaps my duty to have gone through those letters, but they were thelove-letters of a dead woman to my own dead friend, and I myself had atone time, long long ago, been seriously attached to the lady. I hadn'tthe heart to go through those letters. I see now, that I neglected oravoided what was a very painful duty. I as my friend's executor shouldhave cared for those letters, verified them, and put them in a place ofsafety. My only excuse is that my dying friend's words to me were, 'Handthe red morocco box in my safe to my wife, the contents are important;remember my affair at Rome and you will understand them; Georgie must doas she pleases in the matter.' And then he died. I take it, Mr. Brookes,that it was my duty to carry out my dying friend's injunctions. I didcarry out those injunctions to the letter, and then I became aware of anastounding thing. Young Lucius Haggard is not the heir to the Pit Towntitle, for he is illegitimate; nay, more than that, he is not Mrs.Haggard's son at all."
The lawyer sprang from his chair. "Do you mean to assert, Lord Spunyarn,that he was substituted by the supposed parents? On the face of it, LordSpunyarn, it's an improbable story, almost an impossible story."
"Let me explain, Mr. Brookes. Lucius Haggard is really the son of Mrs.Haggard's dearest friend. When, in a moment of desperate fear andagitation, in her love for her friend she consented to cover thatfriend's terrible position--she was an inexperienced girl, Mr.Brookes--by personating the child's mother, she had not the slightestidea of the terrible complications that would ensue, and that thechild's father was her own husband; that latter fact she never knewuntil my poor friend, suddenly stricken down, with his dying breathhinted at the terrible secret, and asked for her forgiveness."
The lawyer moved uneasily in his chair, but did not attempt to interruptLord Spunyarn's explanation.
"I acknowledge to you, Mr. Brookes," he continued, "that I committed anerror; I should have done at once what I am doing now, and taken youinto our confidence. But the good name of a woman was at stake, theproofs were in our possession, there was no doubt as to theillegitimacy of Lucius Haggard, and I trusted in his honour and to theaffection he bore to the woman who had been a mother to him, to enableus to tide over the matter without disclosing it to a living soul, atleast during Lord Pit Town's lifetime."
"And you were disappointed, Lord Spunyarn; you forgot the magnitude ofthe stake, when you deliberately placed the honour of a noble family,the succession to a title and immense estates, in the hands of aninterloper."
"No, Mr. Brookes. At first Lucius Haggard refused to believe for aninstant what would naturally seem a most improbable story. A terriblescene of violence ensued, but let me do young Lucius justice: hespeedily came to his senses; his conduct, Mr. Brookes, was all that o
necould expect from a man of the very highest honour. He placed himselfunreservedly in my hands."
"Thank God for that," said the lawyer, as he wiped, his forehead withhis big silk handkerchief, "thank God for that, for it simplifiesmatters very considerably. And now I suppose you want me to break thematter to the old lord. We've had a very narrow escape, Lord Spunyarn."
"I fear we're not out of the wood yet," said Spunyarn meditatively.
"What! further complications?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Mrs. Haggard is suffering from a stroke ofparalysis and is speechless."
"Well, there is still your evidence and the contents of the box;besides, you say that Lucius Haggard will not fail you."
"Mr. Brookes, the worst yet remains to tell; _the contents of the boxhave disappeared_."
Again the lawyer rose to his feet deeply agitated. "Lord Spunyarn," saidhe solemnly, "you have much to answer for. No doubt Lucius Haggard haspossessed himself of the evidence the box contained and has destroyedit. Just think for an instant of the immense temptation to him to do so.There may be, there will be, a gigantic law-suit that may never end,while the whole of the vast property may be frittered away, for in amatter such as this, remember, all costs come out of the estate. LordSpunyarn, what you tell me is not a misfortune, it is an appallingcalamity, and Lucius Haggard alone has the key of the situation. It'snot a time for half measures, Lord Spunyarn; we must attempt to obtainfrom him the contents of the box, even if we have to employ violence."
"Calm yourself, Mr. Brookes," said Lord Spunyarn, "Lucius Haggard atleast is wholly guiltless in the matter. He was unaware even of theexistence of the box and its contents until he saw it in Mrs. Haggard'spresence. We revealed to him the story, and when we opened the box, thathe might see the proofs as he surely had a right to do, it was empty."
The lawyer stared at Lord Spunyarn. "And what is your lordship'sopinion," he said, "in the matter? Let me understand you exactly, LordSpunyarn. You handed the box and its contents to Mrs. Haggard. She cantestify to that?"
"Mr. Brookes, she is speechless."
"If we had only got the letters you speak of, with affidavits in properform from yourself and the wife of the deceased man, and, _LuciusHaggard being a consenting party_, by the expenditure of a good deal ofmoney, we might perhaps tide the matter over; as it is, Lord Spunyarn,there is no evidence, absolutely no evidence. All you have to tell, ismere hearsay and conjecture; and it would doubtless be successfully setup that, accepting your version of the communication made to you byReginald Haggard on his death-bed, unsupported as it is by a tittle ofevidence, it was but the incoherent raving of a dying man. A Committeeof Privilege of the House of Lords would not accept mere _ex parte_statements in so serious a matter; there would have to be absoluteproof, legal proof, mind you, proof that would satisfy the law officersof the Crown. Young Lucius Haggard, even if he were so Quixotic as towish to do so, could not sign away an earldom by a mere stroke of thepen, neither could he strip himself of the entailed estates. Theextraordinary events, that you say took place many years ago, would haveto be proved; and who is to prove them? As to the parties themselves,two of them are dead, while the third unfortunately is unable to giveevidence one way or the other. If I communicate this dreadful thing tomy aged client, it may actually kill him. What is your own opinion, LordSpunyarn? Do you suppose that in a temporary aberration of mind, to takea most favourable view of it, Mrs. Haggard, with a woman's natural fearof exposure, destroyed or secreted the contents of the box? ReginaldHaggard we know devised all his property to his son George, which wasthe least he could do after stripping him of everything he had the rightto inherit (I am taking your strange story for gospel for a moment). Canwe think that Mrs. Haggard (still supposing the story to be true) feltherself bound to be her husband's accomplice in robbing her own son ofhis just rights, and so become the principal actor in an abominableconspiracy? You have pieced the thing together in your own mind, and thewhole story fits charmingly, but it doesn't admit of proof in any way;it's little better than an improbable and romantic tale as it standsnow, without a shadow of documentary or oral evidence to give it eventhe semblance of truth."
Lord Spunyarn interrupted the lawyer impatiently.
"You don't mean to say that you doubt the various details that I havegiven you, Mr. Brookes?"
"I doubt nothing, Lord Spunyarn," replied the lawyer, "I am merelygiving you the legal view. It will be my duty, I fear there is no escapefrom it, to communicate the whole matter to Lord Pit Town, and to takehis instructions; of course by those instructions I shall be guided. Hemay direct me to attempt to collect evidence in the matter, for I don'tsuppose that he would wish an illegitimate child of his heir to inherithis title and estates. There is another view, Lord Spunyarn, a view thatwould commend itself to the minds of some men: 'Let sleeping dogs lie'is a good proverb. If Lucius Haggard is, as you assert, base-born, thenit is for George Haggard to prove his title; and the real strugglebetween the two young men need only commence when my old friend is laidin his grave. Of one thing I am quite certain, Lord Spunyarn; publicscandal and litigation, must, if possible, be avoided, and I am surethat my client will be at one with me in this."
Spunyarn nodded.
"It is, of course, possible," continued the lawyer, "that some thirdperson may have possessed himself of the contents of the box frommercenary motives."
"And what is your own impression, Mr. Brookes?"
"Speaking to you, Lord Spunyarn, as Reginald Haggard's executor and theguardian of his infant sons, one of whom is undoubtedly the heir to thePit Town title, speaking as a man unversed in the ways of women, andsupposing that Lucius Haggard was unaware of the alleged contents of thebox, I am inclined to suspect that Mrs. Haggard holds the key to themystery."
"You mean that she has secreted or destroyed what the box contained?"
The lawyer nodded.
"Mr. Brookes, my poor friend's wife would never commit a dishonourableact."
"A woman's ideas of honour, Lord Spunyarn, are peculiar. With them, asa rule, particularly with the best of them, sentiment often takes theplace of what men call honour. You yourself have told me that thisunhappy lady considered herself bound by an oath to Lucius's mother,accepting for the moment the theory that she herself is not his mother.If she would keep the secret for twenty years, Lord Spunyarn, if therewas a secret, she may carry it with her to her grave, repenting thesudden confidence that you state she made to you. Even supposing thatthe power of speech should return to her, she may decline to confirmupon oath the statement made to you. The very fact of her suffering fromparalysis may be used by Lucius Haggard and his advisers to set up atheory that she is of unsound mind; and a very natural theory, too, Itake it," said the lawyer with a sigh. "Lucius Haggard," he continued,"a minor, under the influence which you and Mrs. Haggard wouldnaturally exert upon him, may be a very different person to deal withfrom Lucius Haggard acting under professional advice, and only biassedby his own interests. I fear, should the matter ever come before thepublic, that very strong reflections indeed will be made upon you andMrs. Haggard. _Beati possidentes._ Supposing that Lord Pit Town shouldelect to either ignore the matter altogether, or simply instruct me toseek for further evidence; in a very short time indeed, for his lordshipis a very old man, Lucius Haggard will come into the title and estatesas a matter of course; it will then be for George to attempt to provehis right. We must be careful, Lord Spunyarn, in attempting to setourselves up as an amateur court of law, that we do not ruin thefortunes of a great house by leaving it absolutely without an heir; forsuppose young George Haggard to die, and supposing for an instant thatthe story you have told me could ever be proved, that is what wouldhappen. Why, the very title would cease to exist, and the estates wouldpossibly revert to the Crown. Are you and I, Lord Spunyarn, justified insetting the match to a train which might extinguish an ancient peerage?If I speak to you as a man of the world, and give you my honest opinion,I do not hesitate to say that the best thing that can happen is, tha
tthese papers, whatever they contain, may never come to light."
"You would not go as far as to suggest, Mr. Brookes, that should wediscover the papers we are to destroy them?"
"No, Lord Spunyarn. God forbid! I don't go as far as that. You, as yourfriend's executor, through a strange carelessness, for I can call it noless, have let the contents of the box out of your possession; of courseit is for you to do your utmost to regain them. If you ever succeed indoing so, it seems to me that young George Haggard will be called uponto elect his own course. I don't think there is any use in prolongingthis interview," he continued; "I must see his lordship, of course, inthe morning; and should he consent, and I trust to his strong commonsense that he will do so, we shall be able to advise with you in thematter. He may, however, object to that, in which case you will ofcourse obtain professional assistance and take your own course."
Spunyarn felt that the man who addressed him had ceased to be Mr.Brookes, the old friend of the family, and that he had relapsed into hisreal position of Lord Pit Town's legal adviser.
The two men shook hands; and it is not to be wondered at if neitherslept very well that night, both having abundant food for reflection.