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"It's clear enough. He has already some idea of the scheme. He has been pumping old Heyler; he even secured a sample of the stuff it was a faulty cultivation, but it might have been enough for him. He surmised that I had a special use for old Millinborn's money and why I was in a hurry to get it." The silence which followed lasted several minutes. "Does anybody except Beale know?
Stanford Beale laughed a little bitterly. "Say, don't get up in the air, Mr. Kitson I'm only thinking of Miss Cresswell. A special licence in my name would stop one of van Heerden's paths to easy money. Tell me, and this is what I came to ask you, under Millinborn's will, does the husband benefit directly by the marriage, or is he dependent upon what his wife gives him?
He turned swiftly. It was John Millinborn's voice. "Quick come...." The doctor had leapt into the room and made his way to the bed. Millinborn was sitting up, and as the lawyer moved swiftly in the doctor's tracks he saw his wide eyes staring. "Jim, he has...." His head dropped forward on his breast and the doctor lowered him slowly to the pillow. "What is it, John? Speak to me, old man...."
As a side-line and sheerly to secure her money he carried off John Millinborn's heiress with the object of forcing her into a marriage." The commissioner chewed the end of his cigar. "This is a State matter and one on which I must consult the Home Office. You tell me that the Foreign Office believe your story of course I do, too," he added quickly, "though it sounds wildly improbable. Wait here."
"Don't be silly," he said, "you can't fool me. Everybody knows she's worth a million." "Worth a million?" she gasped. "Worth a million." He smacked his lips and fumbled for the little box in his waistcoat pocket. "Try a sniff you'll know what it feels like to be old man Millinborn's heiress." He opened the door and slid out and did not close the door behind him.
"Jackson, or Prédeaux, was her father," said Kitson, "it was believed that he was dead; but after John Millinborn's death I set inquiries on foot and discovered that he had been serving a life sentence in Cayenne and had been released when the French President proclaimed a general amnesty at the close of the war.
Kitson, I've got to know a little more about John Millinborn's will than I know at present." The lawyer looked up, fixed his glasses and regarded the younger man with a troubled look. "I'm sorry to jump in on you like this, but I'm rattled. I don't understand much about the English law though I know that marriages aren't as easy to make here in London as they are in our country.
"If there is anything we can do to prolong my poor friend's life " The doctor sat at the table and wrote his prescription and handed it to the other with an apology. Hill Lodge, John Millinborn's big cottage, stood on the crest of a hill, and the way to the village was steep and long, for Alfronston lay nearly a mile away. Half-way down the slope the path ran through a plantation of young ash.
"He benefits directly," said Kitson after a pause, "on his marriage he receives exactly one-half of the girl's fortune. That was Millinborn's idea. 'Make the husband independent, he said, 'do not put him in the humiliating position of dependence on his wife's generosity, and there will be a chance of happiness for them both." "I see of course, van Heerden knows that.
You're a good man and I have every faith in you, but if I consented, even though I were confident that you would play fair, which I am, I should feel that I had betrayed John Millinborn's trust. It isn't because it is you, my son," he said kindly enough, "but if you were the Archangel Gabriel I'd kick at that plan.
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