"Of course you know the squire is mad--quite mad--he has an idea that his soul will be re-incarnated in another body, and as he is afraid he may be born poor, he has invented a silly scheme by which to become repossessed of his present wealth. I have discovered this scheme--how it does not matter--all I need tell you is, that I have found out all about it--his idea is to pass himself off as his own son." "But he has no son." "Of course not, you fool," said Beaumont impatiently, "he couldn't carry out his idea if he had; it's this way, he has made his will, leaving the property to his natural son, who will at some future time--date not fixed, as he cannot tell when he'll be re-incarnated--go to the lawyers who hold the will and produce, as a proof of his claim to the estate, a letter written to him by his supposed father, also the squire's seal ring--when he does so, under the terms of the will, he inherits the Garsworth estate." "I understand, so far; but how does the squire, in a new body, expect to get these papers?" "Oh! he thinks he'll remember about the affair when he is born again, so he has hidden the papers where he'll be able to find them--in his new body he'll simply go and look them up, produce them to the lawyers, and there you are." "What a foolish idea." "What a foolish remark, you mean," said Beaumont; "of course it's foolish, the man is mad. When he dies the papers will remain undisturbed till doomsday--if I choose." "What do you mean?" "Simply this--as he does not know when or where he'll be re-incarnated, he has left a number of blanks in the letter." "Have you seen the letter?" "Of course I have. I know where the paper is hidden--didn't I tell you I'd discovered his secret. Well, all I've got to do is to fill up these blanks--the name of the mother, the place of the supposed son's birth, and all the rest of it." "I see. But what have I to do with this?" Beaumont arose to his feet and walked angrily to and fro. "What an idiot you are, Patience," he said irritably. "Can't you see? I'm going to fill up the mother's name as Fanny Blake, and the son's as Reginald." "Our son?" "Precisely. Now do you see why I want your help?" "I do, but you shan't have it." "Indeed; why not?" "I'm not going to have such a sin on my conscience." "There's no sin, you Puritan," he said quickly, "the re-incarnation idea is rubbish; no one will appear to claim the property, so why not give the ten thousand a year to Reginald?" "It would dispossess Miss Una." "It would do nothing of the sort--under the will Miss Una cannot claim--the lawyers don't know anything about the re-incarnation theory; all they know is that Squire Garsworth has a son who will appear and prove his claim by the possession of certain papers and a seal ring--until that son appears no one can claim the estate." "Miss Una could dispute the will on the ground of madness."