There was another long silence. T. B. saw the change come over the face
of Poltavo. From rage he had passed to wonder, from wonder to suspicion,
and from suspicion to anger again. T. B. would have given something
substantial to have known what was going on inside the mind of this
smooth adventurer. Again the lawyer's voice insisted upon attention.
"'To Frank Doughton,'" he read, "'I bequeath the sum of a thousand
pounds to aid him in his search for the Tollington heir. To T. B. Smith,
the assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard with whom I have had some
acquaintance, and whose ability I hold in the highest regard, I leave
the sum of a thousand pounds as a slight reward for his service to
civilization, and I direct that on the day he discovers the most
insidious enemy to society, Montague Fallock, he shall receive a further
sum of one thousand pounds from the trustees of my estate.'"
The lawyer looked up from his reading.
"That again, Mr. Smith, is contingent upon certain matters."
T. B. smiled.
"I quite understand that," he said, drily, "though possibly you don't,"
he added under his breath.
This was a portion of the will about which he knew nothing for the
document had been executed but a few days before the tragedy which had
deprived the world of Gregory Farrington. There were a few more
paragraphs to read; certain jewelleries had been left to his dear friend
Count Ernesto Poltavo, and the reading was finished.
"I have only to say now," said the lawyer, as he carefully folded his
glasses and put them away in his pocket, "that there is a very
considerable sum of money at Mr. Farrington's bank. It will be for the
courts to decide in how so far that money is to be applied to the
liquidation of debts incurred by the deceased as director of a public
company. That is to say, that it will be a question for the supreme
judicature whether the private fortune of the late Mr. Farrington will
be seized to satisfy his other creditors."
There was a haze and a babble of talk. Poltavo crossed with quick steps
to the lawyer, and for a moment they were engaged in quick conversation;
then suddenly the adventurer turned and left the room. T. B. had seen
the move and followed with rapid steps. He overtook the Count in the
open doorway of the house.
"A word with you, Count," he said, and they descended the steps together
into the street. "The will was rather a surprise to you?"
Count Poltavo was now all smooth equanimity. You might not have thought
from his smooth face and his smile, and his gentle drawling tone, that
he had been affected by the reading of this strange document.
"It is a surprise, I confess," he said. "I do not understand my friend
Farrington's action in regard to----" he hesitated.
"In regard to Miss Gray," smiled T. B.
Of a sudden the self-control of the man left him, and he turned with a
snarling voice on the detective, but his wrath was not directed toward
the cool man who stood before him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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