"It was an amazing business," Mr. Tracy admitted. "About this Lady Holt, Mr. Ashley; had you any idea of her existence?"
"Not the faintest," said Melville unblushingly.
"Nor why you should be excluded from the will? Pardon me, if I seem to be asking too much."
"The whole thing was like a bolt from the blue," Melville replied. "As a matter of fact I had been on particularly good terms with my uncle just lately, which makes it all the more incomprehensible to me. By the way," he added, with the charm of manner which he knew so well how to assume upon occasion, "I hope you will forget what I said to Ralph after you read the will that day. I was horribly mortified, and I daresay I said more than I really meant."
"Whatever you might have said I should have attributed to a very natural disappointment," Mr. Tracy said pleasantly. "That is all forgotten, so far as I am concerned, and I know I may call upon you now with confidence."
"With perfect confidence," Melville answered. "If you think I may be able to find out anything by pottering about Fairbridge, I'll go down and begin operations to-morrow, but I'm not sanguine."
"At any rate, your evidence will be valuable to show the terms on which your brother stood with your uncle. They were always particularly good friends, weren't they?"
"Yes," said Melville moodily. "Ralph was always Sir Geoffrey's favourite."
"And he was delighted, I know, about your brother's engagement to Miss Austen," Mr. Tracy continued, unconsciously rubbing salt into Melville's sores. "It was his intention to make most handsome settlements, which would have rendered the young couple quite independent."
"I daresay," said Melville. "Well, there it is. I am quite ready to testify that Ralph was always like a very affectionate son to Sir Geoffrey, and that, as far as I can see, there was not only no reason why he should commit such a crime as he is alleged to have committed, but every reason why he shouldn't. Ralph and I have never been very chummy, but nobody would do more to clear him of this preposterous charge than I would. That goes without saying. What makes me want to kick myself is that I can't do something that seems more practical than simply go into court and say what everybody knows already."