“So it is, Kit; but when you come to tot up suits at Nisi Prius, suits in Equity, searches at the Herald's office, and hearings before the Lords, you 'll see it is a downright saving.”
“But could Lackington afford this? What is he worth?”
“They call the English property twelve thousand a year, and he has a small estate in Ireland besides. In fact, it is out of that part of the property the mischief has come. This Conway's claim was discovered in some old country-house there, and Froode is only partially instructed in it.”
“And now, Paul,” said Davis, slowly, “if you got a commission to square this here affair and make all comfortable, how would you go about it?”
“Acting for which party, do you mean?” asked Paul.
“I mean for the Lackingtons.”
“Well, there are two ways. I 'd send for Froode, and say, 'What's the lowest figure for the whole?' or I'd despatch a trusty fellow to the Crimea to watch Conway, and see what approaches they are making to him. Of course they'll send a man out there, and it ought n't to be hard to get hold of him, or, if not himself, of all his papers and instructions.”
“That looks business-like,” said Grog, encouragingly.
“After all, Kit, these things, in ninety-nine cases out of the hundred, are only snaps of the percussion-cap. There 's scarcely a peerage in England is not menaced with an attempt of the kind; but such is the intermarriage—such the close tie of affinity between them—they stand manfully to the fellow in possession. They know in their hearts, if once they let the world begin to pick out a stone here or there, the whole wall may come tumbling down, and so they say, 'Here 's one of us since Henry II.'s time going to be displaced for some upstart fellow none of us ever heard of.' What signifies legitimacy that dates seven centuries back, in favor of one probably a shoemaker or a house-painter? They won't stand that, Kit, and reasonably enough, too. I suppose you've heard all about this case from Beecher?”
“Well, I have heard something about it,” said Grog, in confusion, for the suddenness of the question disconcerted him; “but he don't care about it.”