"In a word," says the captain, who was ever for directness, "he is
a pauper?"
The lawyer bowed his head, but said never a word. Captain
Galsworthy began to drum on the table with his fingers, as his
manner was when perturbed. I sat silent, still too much under the
shadow of my great loss to comprehend the full bearing of his
words.
"Did you put it to Cludde?" he asked suddenly.
"I did, sir, with all the force of which I was capable. I begged
him to acquiesce in the known wishes of our friend, to accept the
draft of the will--here it is--taken 'down by myself from his lips.
Sir Richard looked at it, pished and pshawed, said he had never
held John Ellery's wits in much account, and declared that my
instructions were a clear proof of his feeble mindedness. When I
protested that I had never known a man with a clearer head or of
sounder sense he bellowed at me: what, did I think it sound sense
to will away to a stranger property that had been in the family for
generations?
"'No stranger,' I said, 'indeed, by marriage a kinsman of your own,
Sir Richard.'
"'No kinsman of mine!' he said, 'nor of my lady's neither. When I
married Susan Ellery I did not wed her brother, nor any beggar's
brat'--those were his words, sir--'any beggar's brat he was fool
enough to keep off the parish. If you had the will I'd dispute it
against all the attorneys in England.'
"He is a hard man, Captain. He demands possession in a week.
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