"
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Hawkehurst. If Mr. George Sheldon had not made
the discovery, some one else would have made it sooner or later, depend
upon it. There would have been a little loss of time, that is all. There
are plenty of men of George Sheldon's class always on the look-out for
such chances as this--and for very small chances in comparison to this.
Why, I know a fellow, a Frenchman, called Fleurus, who will take as much
trouble about a few hundred pounds' worth of unclaimed stock as this man,
George Sheldon, has taken about the Haygarth succession. And he has
really the impudence to claim fifty thousand pounds from you?"
"A claim which I have pledged myself not to oppose."
"But which you have not pledged yourself to support. My dear Mr.
Hawkehurst, this is a business which you must allow me to settle for you,
as your wife's legal adviser. We will consider you quite out of the
question, if you please; you will thus come out of your relations to Mr.
George Sheldon with perfectly clean hands. You will not oppose his claim;
but I shall oppose him in my character of legal adviser to your wife.
Why, are you aware that this man executed an agreement with his brother,
consenting to receive a fifth share of the estate, and costs out of
pocket, in complete acquittance of all claims? I have an abstract of the
agreement, amongst Miss Halliday's--Mrs.
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