‘But haven’t you looked for it since, this afternoon, to see what it says?’ ‘I did look for it, but I couldn’t find it.’ ‘Couldn’t find it!’ exclaimed Alec, who was getting terribly excited. ‘Did you look in my drawers?’ ‘I looked everywhere,’ said Beattie; ‘but one of your drawers was locked. Perhaps you put it there.’ ‘I may have done so, though I don’t remember it,’ said Alec. ‘Unfortunately MacGowan, who engrossed it, has gone. It was his blunder, no doubt; but I ought to have noticed it, of course, for I examined it with him.’ ‘It is clear that it was in your mind that the legacy had been reduced,’ said Beattie; ‘for when you read over the will to your uncle you read it “five thousand pounds.”’ ‘I did not!’ shouted Alec, starting to his feet a second time. ‘Who says so?’ ‘Your cousin, James Semple, says so.’ ‘Then he says what is not true!’ ‘That is very unlikely. But Dr. Mackenzie, who was in the room, declares that you read it “five hundred thousand.”’ ‘And he speaks the truth!’ ‘Do take care what you say, my dear fellow,’ said Beattie, after a pause. ‘This is sure to come into the courts in some shape or other. Your cousin will swear to hearing you read “five thousand”--at least, so Mr. Hatchett tells us. How dreadful for you to accuse him of wilful and corrupt perjury! What I believe really happened was this: MacGowan made a mistake in copying the will, and you unfortunately allowed it to pass when you examined it. Then, when you read it, you read mechanically what was before your eyes. You are often a little absent-minded, you know, Lindsay,’ he added with a smile. ‘I suppose it must have been so,’ said Alec at length. ‘It is the only way of accounting for it. But Dr. Mackenzie says I read it as if it ran “five _hundred_ thousand.”’ ‘Pooh, my dear Lindsay, he heard what he wished and expected to hear. Listen to me. Do you think it likely that if your cousin had heard that after being his uncle’s right-hand man all these years he was to have only a share of the residue, worth about ten thousand pounds, he would have submitted without saying a word?’ ‘No; it is not likely,’ said Alec thoughtfully; ‘and yet I can’t help thinking that it was “five hundred thousand” in the will, and that I read it so.’ ‘My dear fellow, I do want to impress this upon you--don’t be as frank with everyone as you are with me. It might be your ruin.’ ‘How? What do you mean?’ ‘This Dr. Mackenzie--what sort of a man is he?’ ‘He is an arrogant, narrow-minded old ass.’ ‘Is he the sort of man who would prosecute anyone who had done him an injury?’ ‘The very man, I should say.’ ‘Then I think you are in very considerable danger.’ ‘Danger? Of what? Of course I won’t touch a penny of this money, for I know my uncle meant the Free Church to have it.’ ‘But your cousin doesn’t know it. He may not be so ready to give up so large a sum.’ ‘Does he say so? Have you seen him?’