"Certainly; and I don't think," Merrick continued, watching the attorney shrewdly, "that Miss—the ladies from Fair Oaks—objected to him as a fellow-traveller, either."
Mr. Whitney changed the subject. "Then you know that will to be genuine, do you?"
"H'm! am I on the witness stand?"
"No; but I think I ought to subpoena you to keep the other side from getting your testimony; you might make a troublesome witness against us."
"My testimony might be worth much or little; I am not giving it to either side at present."
"Well, I would not have it go out, of course; but for my part, I am inclined, to believe not only that the will is genuine, but also that Ralph Mainwaring knows that it is."
"He will fight it all the same."
"Yes, but on rather different grounds from what he first anticipated," and Mr. Whitney gave Merrick an account of young Mainwaring's defection. "In my private opinion," concluded the attorney, "Ralph Mainwaring is a fool, for he has got a pretty hard combination to go against; they've evidently got a strong case, splendid legal talent, and plenty of money to back it all. However, I'm making a good thing out of it."
"Yes," said Merrick, enigmatically, "Barton & Barton are undoubtedly men of great ability in their professions but that 'clerk' of theirs who has come over with the party," with peculiar emphasis, "is the smartest man in the whole crowd!"
"The clerk! why I thought he seemed rather an insignificant sort of a fellow; what do you know about him?"