"But she must see us—she must. It's the mandate of the court!"
Someone pushed the door open. Mrs. Parkes, unable to resist, fell back. Bascom Cooley entered, followed by Jimmy Marsh and Harry Parkes.
CHAPTER XIV.
Mr. Ricaby was not mistaken when he said that Bascom Cooley never admitted defeat and would stop at nothing to gain his ends. The situation, as far as Jimmy Marsh and Cooley were concerned, was certainly desperate. Even in the short time that Jimmy had had Paula's fortune under his control, he had so mismanaged it—to employ only a polite term—as to make his guardianship little short of a scandal. Wall Street, race horses, and the card table had already swallowed a considerable part of the Marsh millions, and that a goodly share of the money had gone to Jimmy's unscrupulous lawyer no one could doubt. A day of reckoning must come sooner or later.
Both men knew this well, and Mr. Cooley also knew that whatever exposure and punishment awaited the ward's uncle would also implicate himself. The important thing, therefore, was to put off that day as long as possible, if not altogether, and the resourceful Cooley was not slow in hitting upon an idea. The girl, he said, must not be permitted to claim her estate. In a few more weeks she would be of age and legally entitled to demand of her uncle an accounting of his stewardship. There was no time to be lost. They must show that the girl was incapable of taking care of her own affairs. Was not her conduct strange and eccentric enough to justify this belief? Had she not flatly refused to live with her uncle, preferring the small, uncomfortable quarters of a cheap boarding house to a luxurious suite in a fine residence? Did she not associate habitually with socialists, paupers, and other undesirables? Were there not rumors that she had affianced herself to the almost imbecile son of her landlady? Had she not announced her intention to give all her money to these people, once it came into her possession? Was she not at all times highly nervous, morose, melancholy? Did she act rationally? What were all these traits and eccentricities but proof of an unsound mind?
It was a very sad state of affairs, of course, but the truth was that the young woman was mentally unbalanced and needed the rest cure. She should be sent somewhere where her special case could receive proper attention. At first Jimmy was staggered by this audacious proposal. There were some lengths to which even he hesitated to follow Cooley. But his resistance was not long lived. When the lawyer, without mincing words, showed him in what peril he stood and that this step was necessary if he wished to be spared the ignominy of wearing prison stripes, he gave way. The next question was the method of procedure. How could the girl be placed in an institution without regular commitment papers? Again, Mr. Cooley sprang into the breach. Dr. Zacharie would swear to anything for a consideration.
Mr. Cooley next went before a judge of a competent court, and petitioned for an order for the commitment to an asylum of Paula Marsh, a minor and ward of his client, Mr. James Marsh, on the alleged ground that she was of unsound mind and liable to do injury to someone. At the same time he submitted an affidavit sworn to by Dr. Zacharie, a recognized specialist in nervous and mental diseases, to the effect that on several occasions when he had observed and examined the said Paula Marsh, he had found her highly nervous and excitable and subject to hallucinations. On one occasion, in his presence, she had uttered threats of bodily violence against the said James Marsh. The court thereupon appointed physicians to examine the said Paula Marsh, the physicians being Dr. McMutrie, visiting inspector of the State Asylum for the Insane, and Professor Bodley, a country doctor recommended by Cooley. If in the opinion of these medical experts the girl was insane, commitment papers would be granted. Armed with this formidable mandate of the court, Mr. Cooley gathered his forces and made his sudden raid on Mrs. Parkes' boarding house.
It was in vain that the landlady tried to bar the way. The burly lawyer, more aggressive than ever, now that he felt himself armed with the authority of the Court, roughly pushed his way in.
"Now, my good lady," he said coaxingly, in a clumsy effort to be amiable. "I will assume the entire responsibility and that ought to relieve you of any further anxiety."