Mrs. Wilson Woodrow

“ Achison looked after him, a deep frown between his eyebrows.
“Ramsey?” he repeated. “What Ramsey is that?” There was an edge to his tone.
“His name is Wallace Ramsey, I believe.” Schofield was hurriedly replacing the missal in its niche, and closing the lid upon it. “A young fellow with whom Frederick seems to have struck up quite an intimacy.”
“So?” Achison's lip curled disapprovingly. “Well, far be it from me to censor Frederick's friendships; but if this is the young man I take him to be, I should strongly discountenance any such association. Mr. Wallace Ramsey is a person to be avoided. ”

“ Achison had not moved, but his face had hardened until it resembled a stone mask; and over it lay again that sinister shadow.
“Young brains,” chuckled Schofield. “You must learn to respect them, Achison. You ignore the fact that you are growing old. However,” he went on, “Ramsey and I considered the situation from all sides. It was an impasse. So, without consulting Frederick,—he is not even aware of our being here tonight,—we decided on a plan. ”

“ Achison reseated himself and glared at his accuser scornfully.
“I suppose I should neither be surprised nor annoyed under the circumstances. The incident has also its humorous side.” He gave a short, contemptuous laugh. “You, the self-confessed receiver of stolen goods, holding in your possession a valuable object which you dare not admit owning, would naturally not hesitate either to suspect or accuse another man of the same lack of moral sense. My dear Mr. Schofield, you do not deserve it, but I am going to give you a few words of counsel. ”

“ Achison said, praying that he could make the suggestion strong enough. “If you should, it will be because you have delayed signing the will. This other idea you hold is the greatest piece of nonsense I ever heard. Every man who has collected as widely as you have has two or three things which he only shows to the safe few. You bought and paid for the missal. Such things belong to the man who holds them.”
Schofield sank lower in his seat; his mouth was set in a straight line.
“I am too tired to argue,” he replied impatiently. “Come out tomorrow, and I will talk to you about the will.” ”

“ But the centuries have taught us to cloak our greed with subtlety, and neither by word nor sign did Achison give a hint to the man who stretched out his hand in welcome, that he had determined to possess Scarlet Maples, this fine old estate in the Westchester Hills, with its handsome manor house built by the first Schofield in pre-Revolutionary days, and added to and embellished by every Schofield who had lived there since. ”

“ Achison raised his eyebrows, a faint, cynical smile on his lips.
“That is something it wont do to be too positive about. You must have had cataloguers from time to time. There is always the chance—”
“My only cataloguer has been my ward, Margery Drew.” Schofield drew himself up stiffly. “And she had no knowledge of the missal, or where it was kept.”
“In that case,”—Achison leaned his arms on the table and looked across it at his unbidden guest,—“I shall have to say something that may both anger and pain you, Mr. Schofield. There are two or three suppositions that force themselves upon me. ”

“ We've got him hard and fast.”
“Then,” asked Achison with a deadly softness, “why are you here?”
“Because,” replied Schofield, with equal softness, “I allowed myself just half an hour to convince you that you had better hand me over the book.”
His voice strengthened and grew stern and impressive.
“I have laid my cards on the table. Because you live down to the dregs of human nature, you imagine that all other men do so. Your one vulnerable spot is your innate dishonesty. You fool! ”

“ Frederick squared his shoulders; there was a new resolution in his voice.
“I feel very differently about the old place, now that I have come back to it,” he said. “And Margery's heart is simply bound up in it. She cannot bear to think of its going out of the family.” He hesitated a moment, then went on. “I should tell you, too, that my uncle is so pleased with our engagement, and with the way I have taken hold of the business, that he has given me quite a substantial sum of money. ”

“ Achison, but a man is in the next room asking for Mr. Schofield.”
“Tell him to wait five minutes more, and then come in.” Schofield spoke before Achison could do so. Almost casually he turned toward the lawyer.
“A man with a search-warrant,” he explained. “And now the missal, please, Achison. Also I may as well tell you that it will not be necessary to come out to Scarlet Maples tomorrow to attend to the signing of that will. ”

“ He has buckled down to business, as you know, in a way to win the highest encomiums; and”—smiling—“he has also, if my eyes do not deceive me, had the good taste to fall head over heels in love with Miss Drew. What better assurance for the future could you ask?” ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1935, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”