I searched it
through yesterday. I spent half the night in ransacking every other
box in the room, all to no purpose."
"You did not lay it aside when you had drawn it and afterwards
engross a blank paper like folded, think you?"
"Sir, 'tis impossible. I drew the will at a sitting: it was not a
long one; folded, engrossed, and tied it with my own hands. Nothing
short of witchcraft could undo my handiwork."
"Or your nephew," snapped the captain. "He is the boon fellow of
young Cludde; 'tis the Cluddes who gain by the disappearance, and
mightily glad they will be of the property if all is true that's
said of Sir Richard's affairs. Where's your nephew, Vetch?"
"At home and abed, Captain, suffering from a catarrh. I did ask him
if he knew aught of the matter, and he laughed and denied it,
reminding me that I had never trusted him with the keys. He is
wild, I own, sir; heady and self willed, a sore trial to me
sometimes; but he is of my name, and that name is honorable in
Shrewsbury."
"'Tut, man, nobody but a fool would suspect you of evil dealing,
and if your nephew had a hand in this it might be nought but a
boyish prank, though a deuced indecent one. But now to the
practical question: in the absence of the will, how does Humphrey
stand?"
I shall never forget the poor lawyer's look of misery when this
question was put to him, sharp as a pistol shot. He bent his quill
in his hand till it cracked; he fidgeted on his stool; he began a
sentence three times and left it unfinished.
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