“Well, a most singular discovery has been made within the last few days. I suppose you remember that the property had been part of a confiscated estate, belonging to an old Irish family, named Corrigan?”
“I remember perfectly,—a very fine old man, that used to be well known at Daly's Club, long ago.”
“The same. Well, this old gentleman has been always under the impression that shortly after the accession of George III. the Act of Confiscation was repealed, and a full pardon granted to his ancestors for the part they had taken in the events of the time.”
“I never knew the descendants of one of those 'confiscated' families who had not some such hallucination,” said Hammond, laughing; “they cling to the straw, like the drowning man.”
“Exactly,” said Linton. “I quite agree with you. In the present case, however, the support is better than a straw; for there is an actual bona fide document extant, purporting to be the very pardon in question, signed by the king, and bearing the royal seal.”
“Where is this? In whose possession?” said Hammond, eagerly.
Linton did not heed the question, but continued,—
“By a very singular coincidence, the discovery is not of so much moment as it might be; because, as Cashel is about to marry the old man's granddaughter—his sole heiress—no change in the destination of the estate would ensue, even supposing Corrigan's title to be all that he ever conceived it. However, Cashel is really anxious on the point: he feels scruples about making settlements and so forth, with the consciousness that he may be actually disposing of what he has no real claim to. He is a sensitive fellow; and yet he dreads, on the other side, the kind of exposure that would ensue in the event of this discovery becoming known. The fact is, his own ancestors were little better than bailiffs on the estate; and the inference from this new-found paper would lead one to say, not over-honest stewards besides.”
“But if this document be authentic, Mr. Linton, Cashel's title is not worth sixpence.”
“That is exactly what I 'm coming to,” said Linton, who, the reader may have already perceived, was merely inventing a case regarding a marriage, the better to learn from the counsel the precise position the estate would stand in towards Mary Leicester's husband. “If this document be authentic, Cashel's title is invalid. Now, what would constitute its authenticity?”