ng revelation in his stepfather's library, the morning the
will was being read, regarding John Marsh's secret marriage, came as a
terrible shock to Jimmy. At first he loudly denounced it as a damnable
lie, a blackmailing scheme, the invention of some hidden enemy. Then, as
he grew calmer and learned more details, he began to realize that the
elaborate structure which he had built up so carefully for years was
about to topple and in his disappointment he grew almost hysterical. He
stormed and raved, working himself into such a frenzy that it was
dangerous to go near him. But for Bascom Cooley, who still held out
hope, he would have shot himself. But Cooley, the resourceful, cunning
Cooley advised patience. All might be well. The money was not yet lost
by any means. What were the courts for if not to see that justice was
done? And Mr. Cooley was honest in his belief that a very serious
injustice would be done if the money went anywhere else than into his
own pockets. The new will must be contested. Some way must be devised to
have it declared invalid. It must be shown that John Marsh was insane at
the time he made the will and that the Frenchwoman he lived with was not
his wife. If this were true the girl Paula Marsh was not his legitimate
daughter. The truth of these statements would not be in question for a
moment, for reliable witnesses would go on the stand and solemnly swear
to them. Mr. Cooley knew where such witnesses could be found. It was
only a question of money. The longest purse secured the greatest number
of witnesses, for, strangely enough, very few people are willing to
commit perjury gratis. Cooley attended to everything, and well, he
might. He himself had as much at stake as Jimmy. So, going among his
influential friends, the "men higher up," he set the wheels of justice
moving--in his own direction.

The first gun in the long and bitterly contested legal battle, which
was to follow, was fired directly Leon Ricaby offered the new will to
the Surrogate for probate. Mr. Cooley replied promptly by offering the
first will. An administrator was then appointed by the Surrogate to
conserve the estate during the litigation, and thus the Marsh estate was
tied up into a complicated legal knot which only the Surrogate or a
decree of a competent court could disentangle.

Then began for Paula a long, drawn-out period of mental distress and
physical discomfort, which taxed her patience and powers of endurance to
the u