The Herapath Property Part 28

Mr. Halfpenny considered this proposition for a moment or two; then having whispered to Peggie and received her a.s.sent, he went across to a safe and presently returned with the will, which he placed on a writing-pad that lay in front of him.

"Now, Mr. Tertius," he said. "Look at this will, which purports to have been made on the eighteenth day of April last. I understand that Jacob Herapath called you into his study on the evening of that day and told you that he wanted you and Mr. Burchill, his secretary, to witness his signature to a will which he had made--had written out himself. I understand also that you did witness his signature, attached your own, in Mr. Herapath's presence and Mr. Burchill's presence, and that Mr.

Burchill's signature was attached under the same conditions. Am I right in all this?"

"Quite right," replied Mr. Tertius. "Quite!"

"Is this the doc.u.ment which Jacob Herapath produced?"

"It is--certainly."

"Was it all drawn out then?--I am putting these questions to you quite informally."

"It was all written out, except the signatures. Jacob showed us that it was so written, though he did not allow us to see the wording. But he showed us plainly that there was nothing to do but to sign. Then he laid it on the desk, covered most of the sheet of paper with a piece of blotting paper and signed his name in our presence--I stood on one side of him, Mr. Burchill on the other. Then Mr. Burchill signed in his place--beneath mine."

"And this," asked Mr. Halfpenny, pointing to the will, "this is your signature?"

"Most certainly!" answered Mr. Tertius.

"And this," continued Mr. Halfpenny, "is Jacob Herapath's?--and this Mr.

Burchill's? You have no doubt about it?"

"No more than that I see and hear you," replied Mr. Tertius. "I have no doubt."

Mr. Halfpenny turned from Mr. Tertius to Barthorpe Herapath. But Barthorpe's face just then revealed nothing. Therefore the old lawyer turned towards Burchill. And suddenly a sharp idea struck him. He would settle one point to his own satisfaction at once, by one direct question. And so he--as it were by impulse--thrust the will before and beneath Burchill's eyes, and placed his finger against the third signature.

"Mr. Burchill," he said, "is that your writing?"

Burchill, calm and self-possessed, glanced at the place which Mr.

Halfpenny indicated, and then lifted his eyes, half sadly, half deprecatingly.

"No!" he replied, with a little shake of the head "No, Mr. Halfpenny, it is not!"

CHAPTER XXIII

THE ACCUSATION

The old lawyer, who had bent forward across the table in speaking to Burchill, pulled himself up sharply on receiving this answer, and for a second or two stared with a keen, searching gaze at the man he had questioned, who, on his part, returned the stare with calm a.s.surance. A deep silence had fallen on the room; nothing broke it until Professor c.o.x-Raythwaite suddenly began to tap the table with the ends of his fingers. The sound roused Mr. Halfpenny to speech and action. He bent forward again towards Burchill, once more laying a hand on the will.

"That is not your signature?" he asked quietly.

Burchill shook his head--this time with a gesture of something very like contempt.

"It is not!" he answered.

"Did you see the late Jacob Herapath write--that?"

"I did not!"

"Did you see Mr. Tertius write--that?"

"I did not!"

"Have you ever seen this will, this doc.u.ment, before?"

"Never!"

Mr. Halfpenny drew the will towards himself with an impatient movement and began to replace it in the large envelope from which it had been taken.

"In short, you never a.s.sisted at the execution of this doc.u.ment--never saw Jacob Herapath make any will--never witnessed any signature of his to this?" he said testily. "That's what you really say--what you affirm?"

"Just so," replied Burchill. "You apprehend me exactly."

"Yet you have just heard what Mr. Tertius says! What do you say to that, Mr. Burchill?"

"I say nothing to that, Mr. Halfpenny. I have nothing to do with what Mr. Tertius says. I have answered your questions."

"Mr. Tertius says that he and you saw Jacob Herapath sign that doc.u.ment, saw each other sign it! What you say now gives Mr. Tertius the direct lie, and----"

"Pardon me, Mr. Halfpenny," interrupted Burchill quietly. "Mr. Tertius may be under some strange misapprehension; Mr. Tertius may be suffering from some curious hallucination. What I say is--I did not see the late Jacob Herapath sign that paper; I did not sign it myself; I did not see Mr. Tertius sign it; I have never seen it before!"

Mr. Halfpenny made a little snorting sound, got up from his chair, picked up the envelope which contained the will, walked over to his safe, deposited the envelope in some inner receptacle, came back, produced his snuff-box, took a hearty pinch of its contents, snorted again, and looked hard at Barthorpe.

"I don't see the least use in going on with this!" he said. "We have heard what Mr. Tertius, as one witness, says; we have heard what Mr.

Frank Burchill, as the other witness, says. Mr. Tertius says that he saw the will executed in Mr. Burchill's presence; Mr. Burchill denies that in the fullest and most unqualified fas.h.i.+on. Why waste more time? We had better separate."

But Barthorpe laughed, maliciously.

"Scarcely!" he said. "You brought us here. It was your own proposal. I a.s.sented. And now that we are here, and you have heard--what you have heard--I'm going to have my say. You have gone, all along, Mr.

Halfpenny, on the a.s.sumption that the piece of paper which you have just replaced in your safe is a genuine will. That's what you've said--I believe it's what you say now. I don't say so!"

"What do you say it is, then?" demanded Mr. Halfpenny.

Barthorpe slightly lowered his voice.

"I say it's a forgery!" he answered. "That, I hope, is plain language. A forgery--from the first word to its last."

"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Halfpenny, a little sneeringly. "And who's the forger, pray?"

"That man, there!" said Barthorpe, suddenly pointing to Mr. Tertius.

"He's the forger! I accuse him to his face of forging every word, every letter of it from the first stroke to the final one. And I'll give you enough evidence to prove it--enough evidence, at any rate, to prove it to any reasonable man or before a judge and jury. Forgery, I tell you!"

Mr. Halfpenny sat down again and became very calm and judicial. And he had at once to restrain Peggie Wynne, who during Barthorpe's last speech had manifested signs of a desire to speak, and had begun to produce a sealed packet from her m.u.f.f.

"Wait, my dear," said Mr. Halfpenny. "Do not speak just now--you shall have an opportunity later--leave this to me at present. So you say you can prove that this will is a forgery, Mr. Barthorpe Herapath?" he continued, turning to the other side of the table. "Very well--since I suggested that you should come here, you shall certainly have the opportunity. But just allow me to ask Mr. Tertius a question--Tertius, you have heard what Mr. Frank Burchill has just said?"