THE
CHINA MAIL
FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, MAY 26,
HE tall, vigorous young figure hardly waited for the maid to open the library door, but strode in with an air of deter- mination that touched reckless-
ness.
Mr. Barry Gaine, the maid an- nounced, but the visitor waited for no greeting nor welcome, aim- ply strode forward till only the big desk was between him and Dr. Flodd, waiting for him.
The old doctor, entrenched be- hind the big desk, was cooler than his visitor. "I made a point of being here when you arrived. I hoped you might have been in time for the funeral yesterday," he said quietly.
The visitor did not sit down: he stood there frowning down at the old man, and at a long en- velope under his hands on the desk.
"We-my wife and I were in an out-of-the-way village in Bavaria. Our honeymoon. Your letter took a long time to catch me up. But I'm terribly sorry I didn't get back in time to say good-bye to my grandmother. What happen- ed-what was the cause of hor death?"
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Short Story
"You were the cause-she wor- ried and fretted herself out of life because she was disappointed in you." The thin old voice dropped the words out, hard and cold like bullets, and the young face op- posite him changed and lost some of its drive and resolution. "Of course, I don't call it that on her death certificate-but that's what really happened."
"But I'm working hard
now.
, I'm married to Estelle and I'm working like the devil. It's hard luck that Granny's gone now. I'd have shown her
"Yes-married to this girl from the village-because you had to be. That was the last straw for your grandmother. Sheer dis- gust, that meant!"
#
"Wait a minute!" Barry Gainę thumped a fist on the desk. "Just remember there was no 'had to be about my marriage. I need not have done it if I hadn't chosen to. But when Estelle came up to London and told me, I suð- denly realised I-I had been a poor sort of swine, and that she was a dear to have trusted me.' He caught back some emotion that had shaken his voice and went on coolly. "Anyway--it's none of your business; still I don't mind admitted it was the best thing I ever did in my life to realise what a decent trusting little creature Estelle was, and to marry her. I've been working bard ever since-done quite some. decent studios down in the Black Forest
"That was the first disappoint- ment you gave your grandmother when you declared you were go- ing to be an artist. Your life has been simply-well, shoddy, ever since. Now this marriage more than she could stand."
Was
"I know-I can understand that, all right. But it's so fright- fully unlucky she should have 'died just now. I was only mean ing to do something worth while to show her before I came back
1939
"A FELONY COMPOUNDED"
-and- it's too late."
Silence fell between them, the old man watching the young brooding face, his own eyes half- shut and his fingers tapping the big envelope under them. Then Barry Gaine lifted his head with a half sigh and spoke.
"Well-that's
that. I only hope the old dear will be able to watch me working, will be able to see what a splendid wife I've got to pull me up and keep me going decently for the future. I'm dead sorry about Granny's dis- appointment-we might have been so happy when once she had seen how straight I meant to go."
Still the old man kept silence, but his nervous fingers toyed with the big envelope, and that move- ment
caught and held Barry Gaine's eye, Slowly he became in- tent on it and the old figure seem- ed to shrink a little in its chair, waiting for words to come.
"I suppose my grandmother's
estate had been piling up, these years? Who has it all gone to?"
By Nellie Tom-Gallon
The question was asked with a return of the reckless air that Gaine had carried when he first came in. The old man licked his dry lips and stiffened.
"This is your grandmother's will that I have here. She left it in my charge-you'd better read it. It won't take you long." Dr. Flodd drew a sheet of foolscap from the envelope, slowly spread it out and pushed it across the desk towards Gaine.
Something in the old man's manner and voice struck at him, and his eyes were puzzled but fixed on him as Gaine picked up the sheet of foolscap. He flicked it flat still not looking at it but at the old man; then read sharply and it did not take him long.
it
Knowing it word for word the
old man could see him start, twice, once as he took in the gist of the page, then as he looked at the date. Then an ugly silence fell in the room while still Gaine held the sheet and dropped at last into a chair.
"My God!--so she left every- thing to you, did she? And this was only made two days before she died every blessed thing to you! How did you manage to get round the poor old soul like that, I wonder?" His eyes were flaming as he dropped the sheet and rest- ed his clenched fist on it.
"That will do Mrs. Gaine was absolutely disgusted and dis- appointed in you, her only re- lative, so she trusted me with the money when it was too late for her to make new plans," Dr. Flodd was suddenly on his feet and his voice was sharp. "She waited and waited for you-and you never came. It was too late- and she trusted me."
“I don't believe it was like that. a year or There was another will two ago and she left her
"money to me in that one.” Gaine had, gra- dually grown very quiet as he stared down at the paper. "You
know-this looks like undue in- fluence to me. There's some-thing wrong here I'll swear. She would never had left me without any help at all." Suddenly he jumped to his feet, cried with a burst- "Oh why didn't I come back just a week sooner and bring her Estelle. Why didn't I come back and show her how I'd pulled up?? She wouldn't have let me down completely like this."
"But I shouldn't let you come to want if I see you working and living decently. Your grand- mother trusted me to look after you. She knew
The boy flashed round on him. with a shout-
"Do you really imagine I'd take charity from you? How dare you suggest such a thing? This was family money and I'd a right' to it but if you've cozened it out of her I'd starve rather than come to you. You've always had a down on me-now you've stolen
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no
"If I hadn't let your grand- mother leave it in my hands she would have been worried again at the very last. She had smallest reason to trust you. You've been nothing but trouble to her." The words drove at him fiercely and Barry Gaine shrug- ged, his young face grim.
"Well-I'll take nothing from you, that's certain. I expect I could fight this will, on the strength of that.other one--. but I've nothing to do it with, And it was my own fault for not coming back more quickly. But I never thought of you scheming like this. What did you want to steal this money for-old as you are? You didn't need to beggar me to....
"Stop!-I tell you I'll give you all`you need if you go straight. - Your grandmother trusted me."
"Don't talk rubbish! Gaines don't take charity. You've got this, by fair means or foul-keep it and have the guilt on your con- science." Gaine jumped to his feet; picked up the will for a last look sneering at it, trying hard to get beyond the bitter blow of it; and the old man's face was an- xious.
"Funny, isn't it?" Gaine said. "These few words-and the shaky writing of a name at the end- and I'm beggared, with a young wife and a child to come. My word! it meant a lot when you put your name to that, Granny!" He flicked at the paper again, contemptuously. Then suddenly brought it up close to his eyes.
"That's a pretty rotten signa- ture" he said slowly, after a long pause, and his breath broke his voice as if he were startled. Then his face was thrust out towards the old man, his eyes very wide..
"By God!-It's a precious bad signature, Granny's was always such a swing and flourish of an affair." He gulped and went on
"Look here--who wrote the body of this precious will? Did the family solicitor send down?”
"No. I wrote the thing at Mrs. Gaine's,
dictation." Dr. Flodd moistened his lips again, staring. fixedly at his questioner.
"The devil you did! Look here -I don't like the look of this so much. I'm going up to town straight away to see the solici-
·
tors. They'll look into this find out from the witnesses whether they really saw Grandmother sign it or not I don't understand what's been happening, quite,"
"What do you mean-what are you quarrelling with? Haven't I offered to let you have money what's the matter? The old man was shaking as he stood leaning across the desk, and Gaîne drew himself upright and smiled.
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as
"The matter is that you admit you wrote the body of this will, and I shouldn't be surprised if you did the signature well. You're a clever old devil--but this shaky signature doesn't look so good to me. We'll have this clear- ed up. I'm straight to town to set things going!"
He turned away towards the door-but the old man had flung himself across the room and caught at his arm.
that; for
"No No don't do pity's sake don't do that. I-I only did what the old lady; wanted me to."
་
"What do you mean-what did ' she want you to do?”
"She got me to write out what she wanted-she was crying, poor old thing-because you'd dis- appointed her so-and then I put the pen in her fingers
. but she-she couldn't.
she was so worn down." The old man was holding on to his arm, panting out words, shaking Gaine by the force of his passionate, appealing confession.
"Well that's what I was sus- pecting. But what then?
What happened if she wasn't equal to signing-that's what I want to know?" Barry Gaine had turned and gripped the old man now in his turn. He was shaking him vio- lently, "Come on what happen-- ed when my. grandmother couldn't sign?”
"She wanted the thing signed --she held my hand-she pushed the pen as near as she could... and I-I did what she wanted. It was no use my guiding her hand, so I just copied her signature from the other will. It was what she wanted she just let go and died peacefully then." The old (Continued on Page 7)
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