"Then you don't think," said the lawyer, again playing chess, "that Miss Tedder in some way has heard of the will which disinherits her, and is anxious to have her cousin hanged so that she may get back the money."
"Will she get back the money if he is hanged?" asked Browne artfully.
"Why, yes. I pleaded for the girl. It seems that Maud--I have known her from a baby, so I can call her by her Christian name--well then, it seems that Maud insisted on marrying Captain Kyles, a man of whom Sir Simon did not approve."
"I don't wonder at that; the man is an adventurer."
"So Sir Simon thought. However, his looks--the scamp is certainly handsome--captured the affections of Miss Maud, and she declared that she would marry him. Sir Simon told her that if she did, he would disinherit her. He carried out his threat by leaving all his money to the nephew whom he treated so badly. But I pointed out that Maud ought to have enough to live on. Sir Simon disagreed, and said that Maud should have everything or nothing. Finally, he yielded,--in a way!"
"In what way?"
"He left the money to Herries for life and afterward to Maud. Meantime she gets one thousand a year."
"I see. Then you think that Maud wishes to see her cousin hanged so that she may inherit the money at once."
Ritson did not reply at once to this question.
"It is difficult to say," he observed, at length. "I cannot make up my own mind, and that is why I have consulted you,--why I have violated the confidence of my client. It is enough to get me struck off the Rolls, and very rightly too."