The execution of this second Will has been described by Miss Clack, who
was so obliging as to witness it. So far as regarded Rachel Verinder's
pecuniary interests, it was, word for word, the exact counterpart of the
first Will. The only changes introduced related to the appointment of a
guardian, and to certain provisions concerning that appointment, which
were made under my advice. On Lady Verinder's death, the Will was placed
in the hands of my proctor to be "proved" (as the phrase is) in the
usual way.
In about three weeks from that time--as well as I can remember--the
first warning reached me of something unusual going on under the
surface. I happened to be looking in at my friend the proctor's office,
and I observed that he received me with an appearance of greater
interest than usual.
"I have some news for you," he said. "What do you think I heard at
Doctors' Commons this morning? Lady Verinder's Will has been asked for,
and examined, already!"
This was news indeed! There was absolutely nothing which could be
contested in the Will; and there was nobody I could think of who had
the slightest interest in examining it. (I shall perhaps do well if I
explain in this place, for the benefit of the few people who don't know
it already, that the law allows all Wills to be examined at Doctors'
Commons by anybody who applies, on the payment of a shilling fee.) "Did you hear who asked for the Will?" I asked.
"Yes; the clerk had no hesitation in telling ME. Mr. Smalley, of the
firm of Skipp and Smalley, asked for it. The Will has not been copied
yet into the great Folio Registers. So there was no alternative but to
depart from the usual course, and to let him see the original document.
He looked it over carefully, and made a note in his pocket-book. Have
you any idea of what he wanted with it?"
I shook my head. "I shall find out," I answered, "before I am a day
older." With that I went back at once to my own office.
If any other firm of solicitors had been concerned in this unaccountable
examination of my deceased client's Will, I might have found some
difficulty in making the necessary discovery. But I had a hold over
Skipp and Smalley which made my course in this matter a comparatively
easy one. My common-law clerk (a most competent and excellent man) was a
brother of Mr. Smalley's; and, owing to this sort of indirect connection
with me, Skipp and Smalley had, for some years past, picked up the
crumbs that fell from my table, in the shape of cases brought to my
office, which, for various reasons, I did not think it worth while
to undertake. My professional patronage was, in this way, of some
importance to the firm. I intended, if necessary, to remind them of that
patronage, on the present occasion.