The Incendiary: A Story of Mystery

by William Augustine Leahy

  CHAPTER XIX.

  LEX REX.

  Stupefaction is a weak word to express the feelings of Saul Aronson whena messenger awakened him at 1 o'clock Thursday morning with a requestfrom Shagarach that he would come to police station No. 5 at once. Theattorney's assistant was never a sluggard, but the celerity with whichon this occasion he scrambled into his street clothes would have donecredit to a lightning-change artist.

  The police captain received him courteously, explaining, as he conductedhim to Shagarach's cell, his hesitancy about discharging the lawyerwithout permission from McCausland, who had maliciously disappeared.Both he and Shagarach were agreed that the most judicious course was toaccept a temporary release on bail, and later to secure a quashing ofthe charge by an explanation to the district attorney. So Aronson setout again to secure bail, and at 4 o'clock had the joy of seeing hismaster pass down the station steps with his bondsman.

  It was fortunate that the affair turned out so well, for the very nextday had been set down for the hearing in the Probate court on thesettlement of Benjamin Arnold's estate.

  Hodgkins Hodgkins, Esq., flanked by the other two members of the firm ofHodgkins, Hodgkins & Hodgkins--namely, his brother and his nephew--wasalready on his feet to address the court when Shagarach, asrepresentative of Robert Floyd's interest, arrived and pushed to thefront. Except for the fact that he was Prof. Arnold's oldestacquaintance in the city, it was hard to understand the selection ofHodgkins for the responsible position of executor over a property of$10,000,000.

  A tall, withered specimen of nearly 70, thin-whiskered and jejune ofspeech, you would have looked instinctively for the green bag at hisside if you had met him on the street. "Whereas" and "aforesaid" and adozen other legal barbarisms disfigured his rhetoric and the trick ofbuttoning his coat with an important air over documents mysteriouslyshuffled into his breast pocket was as natural to him as crossed legs toa tailor.

  But all this pomp, ridiculous as it was, gave no promise of thedisloyalty that was to follow. From the first words of his address itbecame evident that Hodgkins Hodgkins, Esq., was there not to executethe will of his friend but to oppose its execution. Like many anotherintrusted with the same office, he had transferred his allegiance fromthe forgotten dead to the living who had bounty to bestow. Mrs. Arnold,sitting among the spectators, alone, might well congratulate herselfupon a clever stroke in engaging the services of the quondam executorfor her son.

  "As counsel for the petitioner, Mr. Harry Arnold," said Hodgkins,ahemming huskily, "I desire to explain to the court briefly my relationto the case. As your honor has been informed, I enjoyed the privilege ofthe testator's--or, more properly, the intestate's--acquaintance duringa period of nearly fifty years. During that period nothing, I believe,ever occurred to mar our mutual trust and confidence. Up to six weeksago the deceased had never expressed any desire to alter the naturaldistribution of his property after his death. Up to that time, althoughapproaching his seventy-ninth birthday, my honored friend had beenentirely satisfied, entirely satisfied, I repeat, with the prospects ofa division of his estate according to the laws of descent in thiscommonwealth."

  "A statement which we deny," broke in Shagarach, sotto voce. Hodgkinswas a little nonplussed.

  "Am I to understand that Brother Shagarach, representing, I presume,the interests of the other nephew, refers to some previously existingtestament?"

  "Not at all. I refer, your honor, to oral expressions of an intention towill his entire property to the nephew who lived with him, Mr. RobertFloyd."

  "There was a will drawn, which is not extant, I believe?" inquired thejudge.

  "There was a will drawn," answered Shagarach, "but since unfortunatelydestroyed, by which Floyd was disinherited."

  "I opine, then"--Mr. Hodgkins frequently opined--"that Brother Shagarachconcedes the destruction of the document and is here----"

  "To argue for its upholding."

  The whole firm of Hodgkins, Hodgkins & Hodgkins looked as if athunderbolt had struck them at this announcement. Shagarach was throwingaway Robert's share, amounting to $5,000,000.

  "We were not aware of this intention," said the senior member, after aconsultation, "and as to the alleged oral expressions of a purpose toleave the--the accused nephew sole legatee--er--er in any case we shouldhave contested such a will on the ground of undue influence. Six weeksago," Hodgkins was now frowning as formidably as possible, "I received aletter from my honored friend, informing me that he had made a will andrequesting me to assume the function of sole executor--a request which Ifelt it a duty, as well as an honor, to accept."

  "May I see the testator's letter?" said Shagarach, breaking in.

  "I trust the court will accept my assurance----"

  "It is no question of your word. I desire to see the terms of yourappointment as executor, and request that the letter be read."

  "As the first step toward establishing the existence of a will," saidthe judge, "upon which, I believe, both parties, all parties"--therewere several other lawyers present--"are agreed----"

  Hodgkins and Shagarach bowed.

  "The letter had best be read in evidence."

  There was a great diving into green bags for awhile among the Hodgkinsfirm, at the end of which the senior member read the following letter:

  "Friend Hodgkins: You are the only one of your cursed tribe to whom I ever got nearer than swearing distance, and our intimacy began before you were admitted to the vulpine crew. Here I am, a youngster of 78, anticipating death by thirty years at least and indulging in the folly of will-making. Can you conceive anything more absurd? I might as well think of getting insured so early in life. But I was always excessively cautious, you know--hence my odium advocatorum, I suppose. Can you superintend the job? Most of my hoard goes elsewhere, but there will be some for the executor to distribute, and you will find legal pickings in it that will pay you. Write at once.

  "BENJAMIN ARNOLD."

  This eccentric epistle raised a smile among the lawyers, but Shagarachwas busily occupied drafting a verbatim copy while Hodgkins continuedhis plea.

  "I was remarking," he repeated, one of his favorite introductoryformulae, "that upon receiving this request I made haste to indite afavorable response, as I felt bound in duty and honor----"

  "And the prospect of pickings," added Shagarach, sotto voce, stillcopying the letter. The senior member glared.

  "It is needless to relate the unfortunate circumstance, in which BrotherShagarach's client is so deeply implicated, which has relieved me ofthis welcome if laborious trust. The will under which I was to serve inthe capacity of executor has been destroyed--destroyed, presumably, bythe party whose hopes of a fortune is cut off, and we stand here to-dayfacing the same status which existed up to six weeks ago. I say thesame--I am in error. There is an important, a melancholy difference. Sixweeks ago my friend's nephew was not an accused and all but a convictedmurderer."

  Hodgkins paused, as if expecting a rejoinder from Shagarach, but thelatter appeared profoundly absorbed in a telegram which Jacob had justbrought him.

  "The property now stands in no man's name. There is no person to whomits dividends, its rents, its interest, constantly becoming due, cansafely be paid. Under the laws of descent its title vests equally in theheirs-at-law, the nephews of the deceased. But there is need of anadministration, in order that the two shares may be apportioned in asatisfactory manner. I need not again allude to the circumstance whichrenders a joint administration improper and impossible, the circumstancewhich explains the absence of Brother Shagarach's client----"

  "I do not see Brother Hodgkins' client in the courtroom," Shagarachretorted to this sarcasm. As he spoke his eye fell on Mrs. Arnold'shaughty face.

  "It is certain, however, that he is not occupying a felon's cell,"answered Hodgkins. "Briefly, your honor, there is only one course open.An administrator is urgently needed for this immense estate. In theabsence of a will, the heirs-at-law, being
of age, would naturally beselected, but under the circumstances I respectfully suggest that theyounger of the two nephews is debarred and that your honor's choiceshould fall upon the elder, a college graduate, a young man who moves inthe highest social circles, and who has not, I believe, the honor of anacquaintance with the inmates and turnkeys of the state prison."

  Hodgkins had hardly sat down after this acrid peroration when Shagarachwas on his feet.

  "I have only a few words to say at present. The case is by no means sosimple as my learned brother imagines. My learned brother assumes thatthe physical destruction of the will has involved the extinction of itscontents. So mature an advocate does not need to be reminded that parolproof of the contents of a will, of its accuracy in technical form, andof its existence unrevoked at the time of the testator's death, areequivalent in law to the presentation of the document itself.

  "We have in the court-room today a number of witnesses who will testifyto the contents of the will. We have the witnesses who signed it toprove its compliance with statutory requirements as to form; and I donot understand that Brother Hodgkins denies that the paper was inexistence until destroyed at the Arnold fire."

  "You object, then, to the issuance of administration papers to Mr. HarryArnold?" asked the judge.

  "Emphatically. We desire to uphold the will. Brother Hodgkins hasintroduced evidence as to the making of a will in the letter which heread. I should like to put in evidence now the testimony of the threewitnesses to the signature."

  When the three witnesses had sworn to Prof. Arnold's acknowledgment intheir presence of the will, to their own attestation of his signature,and to the date, June 7, of these occurrences, another lawyer, whoappeared to act in concert with Shagarach, briefly announced hisguardianship of the interests of the heirs of Ellen Greeley, a legateein the sum of $1,000. After recounting the long and meritorious servicesof the dead domestic, he called upon her sister to testify to severalconversations in which she had referred to the professor's generousremembrance of her in his will.

  "It is proper to state at this point," said Shagarach, "that the otherservant, Bertha Lund, is not represented here by counsel, but there isevidence to show that she was remembered in the same manner as hercolleague."

  Mrs. Christenson was thereupon called and deposed, exactly as EllenGreeley's sister had done, to the several conversations in which Berthahad referred to her employer's liberality.

  "Until yesterday evening," said Shagarach, "Bertha Lund was employed inthe country house of Mrs. Arnold at Hillsborough. A telegram, however,sent to the station-master at that place, brings the answer that MissLund took the outward-bound train at 5:21 this morning, being alone andaccoutred with a large baggage trunk. I doubt, therefore, if thisimportant witness as to the contents of the will can readily be found."

  While he made this statement Shagarach searched Mrs. Arnold's face. Hergaze shifted and she perceptibly whitened. Then the rise of stillanother lawyer, also seeming to act in concert with Shagarach, drewattention to the court. The new attorney represented, as he immediatelyinformed the judge, certain charitable institutions which had beenremembered under the clauses of the will--namely, the Duxboroughinstitution for the blind, of which the professor, who had himself beenoperated on for cataract, had been throughout his life a conspicuoussupporter; the Woodlawn home for consumptives, the dipsomaniac hospital,the Magdalen reformatory, the asylum for idiots and the Christianorphanage. Letters were read from Prof. Arnold to the superintendents ofeach of these institutions, requesting them to accept legacies of$20,000 each under the will which he had just drawn. The letters werecouched in a stereotyped form and all dated alike.

  But the most significant testimony of the day was contained in the lastdocument which this attorney presented--a letter.

  "Dr. Silsby himself," he explained, "is detained from attendance at thishearing by important scientific labors in the west."

  The mention of Dr. Jonas Silsby's name caused the eyebrows of theHodgkins firm to elevate themselves unanimously in a manner whichamusingly accented the facial resemblance of the members. Jonas Silsbyhad been a pupil of Prof. Arnold and was at present the mostdistinguished arboreal botanist in the country. Along with some of hismaster's eccentricities, such as vegetarianism, he had imbibed much ofhis independence and noble honor. He was, moreover, Robert Floyd's mostintimate friend, bridging, as it were, by the full vigor of hisfifty-odd years, the great gap of half a century which separated theboyish nephew from his octogenarian uncle.

  Mrs. Arnold's quick smoothing with her finger of an imaginary looselock--the characteristic feminine gesture of embarrassment--did notescape Shagarach's lustrous glance. The letter was worded as quaintly asthe other:

  "My Dear Jonas: Rob has gone back on me, God bless him, the rogue, and you've got to take my dollars. I know you don't want them, but I'm going to commit inverse larceny just the same. I'll grab you by the throat and stuff your pockets with gold, though you bellow like an ox. You know what it's all about. We've talked it over often enough. And I want it called the 'Arnold academia,' too. If agriculture stops going to the dogs in this country through the preaching of the dons my hoard keeps in shoe leather, then I want the credit of it for my ghost downstairs. It'll need some comfort, Jonas. But don't suppose I dream of quitting you yet, my boy, and don't expect all of the pudding I've baked. There will be some plums for the asylums, and some for the servants, and Rob, the young rogue, has got to be provided for, willy-nilly. This is only a hint, but verbum sap. We'll talk it over when you come east again, with your pouches full of seeds. Here's good luck to you, Jonas. It is God's world, anyway, and not the devil's. Your old friend,

  "BENJAMIN ARNOLD."

  "Dr. Silsby explains," added the lawyer, "that the allusion in the textto an academia refers to a cherished project for elevating the positionof the American farmer. The idea was to establish a great agriculturaluniversity. It had been a frequent subject of discussion between them,and nothing could be more natural than that Dr. Silsby should beselected as president of the institution."

  "And trustee of its funds," added Shagarach, looking at the seniormember of the bewildered firm of Hodgkins, Hodgkins & Hodgkins. Then thecourt adjourned for lunch.