"There isn't the money—not necessarily. He might get back the twelve thousand pounds and have to pay Mrs. Manley six hundred a year for forty or fifty years. She's a healthy-looking woman," said Mr. Flexen. "I take it that the late Lord Loudwater had property of his own against which she could claim."
"Oh, of course, she could do that," said Mr. Carrington, and there was some diminution of the triumphant expression.
"She would," said Mr. Flexen. "Then you'll have to get over his objection to incurring a considerable amount of odium. It will look bad for a man of his wealth to try to recover from a lady a sum of money to which every one will consider her entitled."
"Oh, but it was obtained by fraud," said Mr. Carrington.
"If you were sure of proving that, it would make a difference in the way people would regard it. But you're not sure of proving it—not by a long chalk. And you can't assure your client that you are. There'll be a lot of conflicting evidence about that signature, as Harrison pretty clearly showed. If you don't prove it, your client will be landed with the costs of the case and incur still greater odium."
"Ah, but he is bound to take the risk to bring his cousin's murderer to justice," said Mr. Carrington.
"Is he?" said Flexen dryly. "What kind of terms was he on with his murdered cousin?"
"Well, I must say I didn't expect you to ask that question," said Mr. Carrington pettishly. "What kind of terms was the late Lord Loudwater likely to be on with his heir? They hated one another like poison."
"I thought as much," said Mr. Flexen. "And what kind of a man is the new man—anything like his dead cousin?"
"Oh, well, all the Loudwaters are pretty much of a muchness. But the present man is a better man all round—better manners and better brains," said Mr. Carrington.