British -- Cuba -- Fiction; Cuba -- History -- Revolution, 1895-1898 -- Fiction
“I should like to tell you that I left my business in New York and came
here against my partner’s wishes because I felt it was a duty I owed
Miss Wayne and my late comrade’s relatives,” he said. “That was my only
motive, and it seems to me desirable that you should realize it.”
“You apparently do not know that you are a legatee under Anthony
Palliser’s will,” said Craythorne.
“I was not even aware that he had made one, though he told me that he
had made over Dane Cop to me.”
Colonel Melton looked at Earle, and Craythorne, who took a document from
a drawer, passed it to Appleby.
“Then you will be astonished to hear that the personal estate scheduled
here was bequeathed to you?”
“I certainly am. I am also not sure that Tony had exactly the right to
leave this property to me. Traditionally, and, I think, ethically, it
belongs to the estate, and should revert to Esmond Palliser.”
Colonel Melton appeared a trifle astonished, but Craythorne smiled
dryly. “That is also Esmond Palliser’s opinion, and he informed me that
he intends to act upon it.”
“He is, of course, at liberty”; and Appleby showed a trace of
impatience. “His intentions do not, however, in the least concern me.
Now, gentlemen, I have come here to tell you of my comrade’s death, and
I have another appointment to keep this evening.”
Melton glanced at Craythorne, who nodded. “We will ask you to be as
explicit as you can,” he said.
Appleby spoke for rather more than ten minutes, and when he came to the
assault upon Santa Marta it was evident that Colonel Melton was
listening with eager interest. He turned to Appleby abruptly with a
trace of embarrassment.
“I knew your father, Mr. Appleby,” he said. “In fact, I once offended
Godfrey Palliser by expressing my opinion of the fashion in which he
treated him, and now I can only hope you will excuse the attitude I
thought necessary when you came in. You did a thing not many drilled
troops would have accomplished. A frontal attack in daylight, with a
coverless strip to cross! They would have swept you out of existence
with shrapnel.”
“They hadn’t any”; and Appleby laughed.
“Still, they had two quick‐firers, and your attack was directed at one
narrow entrance,” said Melton. “Now—”
Craythorne raised his hand. “I fancy it would be advisable to discuss
these points later on,” he said. “What we are immediately concerned with
is the proof of Anthony Palliser’s death.”
“Precisely!” said Earle.
Melton flashed an angry glance at the lawyer, and Appleby’s face became
a trifle grim.
“I have here the depositions of two men who saw him buried attested by a
Spanish notary, and am willing to make another now before a commissioner
for oaths,” he said. “My partner in New York will also testify to Tony’s
connection with the Sin Verguenza.”
“And Miss Wayne, that he told her he was leaving for Cuba to find Mr.
Appleby, if Craythorne is unwilling,” said Melton.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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