"And if he is dead the property goes to a charity."
"Yes! I will read the codicil!" and this Durham did to the dismay of the company. Only Miss Berengaria chuckled. She was delighted to see that Beryl had been punished, and smiled when she thought how correct had been her guess when talking to the lawyer. As for Alice, remembering that Bernard was alive and well, she found it hard to contain her satisfaction that he had been fairly dealt with. Even the thought of the crime, under the ban of which he lay, faded for the moment from her mind. Julius, with a certain malignancy, brought it back to her recollection.
"Even if Bernard is not dead he cannot inherit as a felon," said he.
"Pardon me," interposed the lawyer. "You have yet to prove his guilt."
"It was proved at the inquest."
"A jury at an inquest has not the right to condemn a man," said Durham, sharply. "If Sir Bernard"—Julius winced at the title—"is alive and comes forward, I shall do my best to prove his innocence."
"And in any case," said Miss Berengaria in clear tones, "Mr. Beryl does not benefit."
Julius turned on her with fury, and seemed on the point of breaking out into wrathful speech. But his habitual dissimulation came to his aid, and he suppressed himself. More than that, he attempted to smile.
"I don't say that I do not feel hurt," he said, with a desperate attempt at cheerfulness. "Sir Simon distinctly named me as his heir, and, moreover, asked Mr. Durham to read the new will in which I was named as such."
"Perfectly true," said Durham, coldly. "But Sir Simon changed his mind and burnt the new will. It was never executed, as I say."