nry might or might not be ordinarily
honest, as are other ordinary people. There might be no such will as
that spoken of, or there might be a will accidentally hidden,--or the
will might have been found and destroyed. But that they should be
able to find a will, the hiding-place of which should be known to
Cousin Henry, was to his thinking out of the question. The subtler
intellect of the other lawyer appreciating the intricacies of a
weak man's mind saw more than his companion. When he found that
Mr Brodrick did not agree with him, and perceived that the other
attorney's mind was not speculative in such a matter as this, he
ceased to try to persuade, and simply said that it was the duty of
both of them to leave no stone unturned. And so they started.
"I'll take you about half a mile out of our way to show you Mr
Evans's gate," Mr Apjohn said, after they had started. "His house is
not above twenty minutes from Llanfeare, and should it be necessary
to ask his assistance, he will know all about it. You will find a
policeman there ready to come back with you. But my impression is
that Cousin Henry will not attempt to prevent any search which we may
endeavour to make."
It was about ten when they reached the house, and, on being shown
into the book-room, they found Cousin Henry at his breakfast. The
front door was opened for them by Mrs Griffith, the housekeeper; and
when Mr Apjohn expressed his desire to see Mr Jones, she made no
difficulty in admitting him at once. It was a part of the misery of
Cousin Henry's position that everybody around him and near to him
was against him. Mrs Griffith was aware that it was the purpose of
Mr Apjohn to turn her present master out of Llanfeare if possible,
and she was quite willing to aid him by any means in her power.
Therefore, she gave her master no notice of the arrival of the two
strangers, but ushered them into the room at once.
Cousin Henry's breakfast was frugal. All his meals had been frugal
since he had become owner of Llanfeare. It was not that he did not
like nice eating as well as another, but that he was too much afraid
of his own servants to make known his own tastes. And then the
general discomforts of his position had been too great to admit of
relief from delicate dishes. There was the tea-pot on the table, and
the solitary cup, and the bread and butter, and the nearly naked bone
of a cold joint of mutton. And the things were not set after the
fashion of a well-t
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