Jordas, in his steady but by no means stupid way, considered at his
leisure what such things could mean. He knew all the property, and the
many little holdings, as well as, and perhaps a great deal better than,
if they had happened to be his own. But he never had known such a hurry
made before, or such a special interest shown about the letting of
any tenement, of perhaps tenfold the value. However, he said, like a
sensible man (and therefore to himself only), that the ways of women
are beyond compute, and must be suitably carried out, without any
contradiction.

CHAPTER XX

AN OLD SOLDIER

Now Mr. Jellicorse had been taking a careful view of everything. He
wished to be certain of placing himself both on the righteous side and
the right one; and in such a case this was not to be done without much
circumspection. He felt himself bound to his present clients, and could
not even dream of deserting them; but still there are many things that
may be done to conciliate the adversary of one's friend, without being
false to the friend himself. And some of these already were occurring to
the lawyer.

It was true that no adversary had as yet appeared, nor even shown token
of existence; but some little sign of complication had arisen, and one
serious fact was come to light. The solicitors of Sir Ulphus de Roos
(the grandson of Sir Fursan, whose daughter had married Richard
Yordas) had pretty strong evidence, in some old letters, that a deed
of appointment had been made by the said Richard, and Eleanor his wife,
under the powers of their settlement. Luckily they had not been employed
in the matter, and possessed not so much as a draft or a letter of
instructions; and now it was no concern of theirs to make, or meddle, or
even move. Neither did they know that any question could arise about it;
for they were a highly antiquated firm, of most rigid respectability,
being legal advisers to the Chapter of York, and clerks of the
Prerogative Court, and able to charge twice as much as almost any other
firm, and nearly three times as much as poor Jellicorse.

Mr. Jellicorse had been most skillful and wary in sounding these deep
and silent people; for he wanted to find out how much they knew, without
letting them suspect that there was anything to know. And he proved
an old woman's will gratis, or at least put it down to those who could
afford it--because nobody meant to have it proved--simply for the
sake of getting golden conta