Two days later a gentleman, whose clean-shaven face had a habit of beaming suddenly into a professional smile, was seated at a huge writing-table in his office in Gray's Inn, when a clerk announced to him the arrival of Mrs. Agar, who desired to see him at once.
Mr. Rigg beamed instantaneously, and the clerk, who knew his master, waited until the paroxysm had passed. In the meantime Mrs. Agar was fuming2 in the waiting-room, wherein lay a copy of the Times and nothing else. The window looked out upon the neatly3 kept but depressing garden, where five antiquated4 rooks looked in vain for sustenance5. Mrs. Agar watched these intelligent birds, but all her soul was in her ears. She had already set Mr. Rigg down in her own mind as a stupid because, forsooth, he had dared to keep her waiting.
But the truth is that they are accustomed to ladies in Gray's Inn, especially ladies in deep mourning, with a chastely7 important air which seems to demand that advice and sympathy be carefully mingled8. Connues, these ladies whose deep crape and quite exceptional bereavement9 plead (not always dumbly) for a special equity10, home-made and superior to any law, and infer that the ordinary foes11 are in their case more than any gentleman would think of accepting.
The clerk presently passed into an inner room and fetched therefrom a tin box, upon which were painted in dingy12 white the letters “J. E. M. A.,” and underneath13 “Stagholme Estate.” This the embryo14 lawyer carefully wiped with a duster, and set it up on some of its fellows immediately behind Mr. Rigg.
There was no hurry displayed in this scenic15 arrangement. Mr. Rigg made a practice of keeping ladies, especially those wearing crape, for a few minutes in the waiting-room. It calmed them down wonderfully, and introduced into their mental chambers16 a little legal atmosphere.
“Marks,” he said, when that youth was taking his last look round at the mise en scène before, as it were, raising the curtain, “eh—er—just go round to Corbyn's and get them to make up these pills.”
At the mention of the medicinal term he beamed, as if to intimate that between themselves no secret need be observed that he, Mr. Rigg, was subject to the usual anatomical laws of mankind.
“And—er—just call at the fishmonger's as you come back and get a parcel for me, ordered this morning.”
“Yes, sir,” answered the faithful Marks, taking the prescription17 as if it were a will or a transfer.
He knew his part so well that he moved towards the door and opened it as if Mrs. Agar's existence and attendance in the waiting-room were matters of the utmost indifference18.
“Marks!”
The door was open, so that the lawyer's voice carried well down the passage.
“Yes, sir.”
“I will see Mrs. Agar now.”
“Mr. Rigg,” she said, with some dignity, “has Mr. Glynde been here?”
The lawyer beamed again—literally all over his parchment-coloured face, except the eyes, which remained grave.
“When, my dear madam?” he asked, as he brought forward a chair.
“Well, lately—since my son's death.”
The lawyer opened a large diary, and proceeded to trace back each day with his finger. It promised to be a question of time, this ascertaining20 whether Mr. Glynde had called within the last week. It was marvellous how well this man of deeds knew his clients. Mrs. Agar had never persevered21 in any inquiry22 or project that required time all through her life. Mr. Rigg, behind his disarming23 smile, could see as far into a crape veil as any man.
“It must have been quite lately,” said Mrs. Agar, leaning forward and trying visibly to read the diary.
Mr. Rigg turned back a few pages, as if to go over the ground a second time.
“Last Tuesday, the fourteenth.”
“To be sure,” reflected Mr. Rigg, fixing his eyes sadly on an engraving25 of London Bridge in the seventeenth century—a spot specially6 reserved for the sadder moments of probate and other testamentary work. “Very sad, very sad.”
Then he rose with the mental brushing-away of unshed tears of a man who has never yet had time in life for idle lamentation26. He turned towards the tin box, jingling27 his keys in a most practical and business-like way.
“And I presume,” he said, “that you have come to consult me about the late Captain Agar's will?”
“Was there a will?” asked Mrs. Agar, with audible alarm. She had not studied “Every Man his own Lawyer” quite in vain, although most of the legal technicalities had conveyed nothing whatever to her mind. She did not notice that her question regarding Mr. Glynde had never been answered.
Mr. Rigg turned upon her beaming.
“I have no will,” he answered. “I thought that perhaps you were aware of the existence of one.”
Mrs. Agar's face lighted up.
“No,” she said, with ill-concealed delight; “I am certain there is no will.”
“Indeed! And why, my dear madam?”
“Well—oh, well, because Jem was just the sort of person to forget such matters. Besides, when he left England he was under age.”
The lawyer was looking at her with his usual sympathetic smile spread over his face like an actor's make-up, but his eyes were very keen and clever.
“Of course,” he observed, “he may have made one out there.”
“I do not think that it is likely,” replied the lady, whose small thoughts always came into the world in charge of a very obvious father in the shape of a wish. “There are no facilities out there—no lawyers.”
“There are quite a number of lawyers in India,” said Mr. Rigg, with sudden gravity. His face was only grave when he wished to fend28 off laughter.
“Well,” persisted Mrs. Agar, “I am sure Jem did not make a will.”
Mr. Rigg bowed and resumed his seat. He took up a penholder and smiled, presumably at his own sunny thoughts.
Mrs. Agar was one of those fatuous29 ladies who think themselves capable of tricking a professional man out of his fee. She had a vague notion that if one asks a lawyer a question the price of his answer is at least six shillings and eightpence. Up to this point in the interview she was serenely30 conscious of having eluded31 the fee.
“I presume,” she remarked carelessly, in pursuance of this economical policy, “that in such a case the property would go unconditionally32 to the second son.”
“There are contingent33 possibilities,” replied the man of subterfuge34 blandly35. He did not mean anything at all, but shrewdly guessed that Mrs. Agar would not credit him with so simple a design.
The lady smiled in a subtly commiserating36 manner, indicative of the fact that on some family matters the ignorance of all except herself was somewhat pitiful.
“Of course,” she said, “as regards the present case, I know perfectly37 well that both Jem and his father would wish everything to go to Arthur.”
She was picking a thread from the corner of her jacket with an air of nonchalance38.
Mr. Rigg was silent. He had some thirty years before this period given up attaching importance to the wishes of the deceased as interpreted by disinterested39 survivors40.
“And I should imagine that the necessary transfers—and—and things would be much better put in hand at once. Delay seems to me quite unnecessary.”
She paused for Mr. Rigg's opinion—quite a friendly opinion, of course, without price.
“Pardon me,” said that lawyer, driven into a corner at last, “but are you consulting me on behalf of the late Squire's executor, Mr. Glynde, or on your own account?”
“Oh!” replied Mrs. Agar, drawing herself up with a deprecating little laugh, “I did not intend it to be a consultation41 at all. I happened to be passing, that was all. You see, Mr. Rigg, Mr. Glynde does not know anything about these matters. Clergymen are so stupid.”
“Seems to be afraid,” Mr. Rigg was reflecting behind his pleasant mask, “of the young man coming alive again.”
Mrs. Agar was like a child in many ways, more especially in her unbounded belief in her own cunning. She actually imagined herself to be a match for this man, who had been trained in the ways of duplicity all his life. She saw nothing of his mind, and fatuously42 ignored the fact that from the moment she had entered the room he had begun the interview with a mental hypothesis.
“This woman,” he had reflected, “has always hated her step-son. She got him a commission in an Indian regiment43 for the primary purpose of getting him out of the way while she saved money on her life-interest in the estate for her second son. The secondary purpose was little more than a hope. She hoped for the best. The best has come off, and she is not clever enough to let things take their course.”
Every word Mrs. Agar had uttered, every silence, every glance had gone to confirm the lawyer's opinion, and he sat pleasantly beaming on her. He did not jump up and denounce her, for lawyers are scientists. As a doctor in the pursuit of his science does not hesitate to handle foul44 things, to probe horrid45 sores, so the lawyer must needs smirch his hands even to the elbow in those moral tumours46 from whence emanate47 the thousand and one domestic crimes which will ever remain just outside the pale of the law. And in one as in the other the finer susceptibilities grow dull. The doctor almost forgets the pain he inflicts48. The lawyer gradually loses his sense of right and wrong.
Mr. Rigg was an honest man—as honesty is understood in the law. He was keenly alive to all the motives50 of this woman, who, in the law of humanity, was a criminal. He had started from a lawyer's standpoint—id est, personal advantage. “To whose advantage?” they ask, and there they assign the action. But Mr. Rigg was also a good lawyer, and therefore he kept his own counsel.
“Things must be allowed,” he said, “to take their course. You know, Mrs. Agar, we are proverbially slow in moving, but we are sure.”
Now it happened that this was precisely51 the position assumed by Mr. Glynde, whose respect for legal routine was enormous. He rarely moved in any matters wherein the law could by hook or crook52 be introduced without consulting Mr. Rigg, whom he vaguely53 called his “man.” And it was precisely this delay that Mrs. Agar disliked. She had no definite reason for so doing; but this stroke of good fortune presented itself to her mind more in the light of an opportunity to be seized than as a just inheritance to be thankfully received in its due time.
She was awake to the fact that Arthur was not the man to seize any opportunity, however obviously it might be thrust into his grasp, and her knowledge of the world tended to exaggerate its dishonesty in her mind.
Sister Cecilia and she had talked this matter over with that small modicum54 of learning which is a dangerous thing, and they had arrived at the conclusion that Mr. Glynde was not competent to carry out the duties thus suddenly thrust upon him. Wrapped up as was her heart in the welfare of her weakling son, the one lasting55 motive49 of her life had been to secure for him the largest possible portion of earthly goods. Now that success seemed to be within measurable distance, she gave way to the baneful56 panic of the weak conspirator57, and fancied that the whole world was allied58 against her.
She could not keep her fingers off “Every Man his own Lawyer,” and consulted that boon59 to the legal profession to such good effect that she placed a handsome fee in the pocket of one of its brightest ornaments60 at the earliest opportunity. Mr. Rigg continued to beam and to keep his own counsel, merely notifying that things must be allowed to take their own course, and presently he bowed Mrs. Agar out of his office, dissatisfied, and with an uncomfortable feeling of having been somewhat indiscreet.
Arthur was waiting for her in a hansom cab in Holborn, and with a sigh of relief they drove westward61 to a shop in Regent Street to order a supply of the newest procurable62 mode of signifying grief on paper and envelopes. Arthur Agar was an expert in such matters, and indeed both mother and son were more at home in the graceful63 pastime of spending money than in the technicalities of making or keeping the same.
Arthur was already beginning to taste the sweetness of his adversity, and being intensely sensitive to the influence of those with whom he happened to be at the moment, he was already beginning to look back with mild surprise to the first burst of grief to which he had given way on hearing that Jem was killed.
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1
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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2
fuming
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| 愤怒( fume的现在分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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3
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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4
antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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5
sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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6
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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7
chastely
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| adv.贞洁地，清高地，纯正地 | |
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8
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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9
bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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10
equity
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| n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票 | |
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11
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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12
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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13
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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14
embryo
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| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
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15
scenic
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| adj.自然景色的，景色优美的 | |
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16
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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17
prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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18
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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19
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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20
ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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21
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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23
disarming
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| adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒 | |
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24
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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25
engraving
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| n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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26
lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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27
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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28
fend
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| v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开 | |
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29
fatuous
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| adj.愚昧的；昏庸的 | |
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30
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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31
eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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32
unconditionally
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| adv.无条件地 | |
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33
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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34
subterfuge
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| n.诡计；藉口 | |
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35
blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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36
commiserating
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| v.怜悯，同情( commiserate的现在分词 ) | |
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37
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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38
nonchalance
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| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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39
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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40
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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41
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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42
fatuously
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| adv.愚昧地，昏庸地，蠢地 | |
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43
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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44
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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45
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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46
tumours
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| 肿瘤( tumour的名词复数 ) | |
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47
emanate
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| v.发自，来自，出自 | |
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48
inflicts
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的第三人称单数 ) | |
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49
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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50
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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51
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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52
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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53
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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54
modicum
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| n.少量，一小份 | |
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55
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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56
baneful
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| adj.有害的 | |
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57
conspirator
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| n.阴谋者，谋叛者 | |
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58
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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59
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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60
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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61
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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62
procurable
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| adj.可得到的，得手的 | |
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63
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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