"Why can't you make it now?"
"It would not be legal. Marriage invalidates a will."
Herrick who had been thinking, looked up with bright eyes. "Stephen," he said, "you are afraid of Frisco."
"Yes, I am. He may try and murder me to get the money, so by marrying Ida and leaving it to her, I shall put the matter out of his power. Once he gets to know that the money has gone from him for ever, he may leave me alone. He tried through Santiago to kill me once, and failed. He may not fail the second time."
"There is something in that," said Herrick, and then the council of war--as Bess called it--broke up. The final decision of the three was to let the case stand where it was. They washed their hands of the whole affair.
For the next fortnight there was absolute peace. Stephen and Ida arranged to be married in two months, and Dr. Jim began to talk of his future with Bess. Jim did not want to live with Stephen after the marriage, and yet he could not leave him, without forfeiting his income. Of course Stephen insisted that Herrick should take a certain sum a year, until he got on his feet, but Jim would not consent to this. "I can't take money I do not work for," he said decisively, "if you will lend me a small sum, I'll go back to London and start a practice in a new place. I expect it will be a long time before I am able to marry Bess. But she will wait for me."
Bess expressed herself favourably on this point. She would wait for Jim till her hair grew gray, and meantime she could manage Biffstead for Frank, after Ida was settled at "The Pines." Neither Stephen nor Ida could do anything with this obstinate couple, and they gave up the attempt in despair. "But I think it is an infernal shame your leaving me in the lurch," said Stephen, "remember what my mother said!"
"Oh, I intend to see you through the year, in case Frisco should attempt to stop your visits to the vault," replied Jim. "But after that I must go and carve out my own fortune."
"Well, who knows what may happen by then," said Marsh-Carr. He was determined in some way to benefit Jim. "I'll have to force the money on the fellow' he grumbled to Ida.
"Bess is just as obstinate," she sighed, "however they will be with us for some months yet. Wait and see, Stephen."