“Mr. Marrable! Oh, yes,” said Mr. Bradfield, assuming more cheerfulness of speech as his thoughts lost it.
“He told me, sir, about the will made by Mr. Gilbert Wryde.”
“Well, what has that to do with me?”
“Well, sir, it has a good deal to do with you now that Mr. Richard is of age and proved to be sane, I think. For, of course, he ought to come into his property.”
There was a pause. For the thousand and first time Mr. Bradfield was asking himself whether this was a man to be bribed. He decided that at this stage of affairs the experiment must be tried.
“Look here, Stelfox,” said he, “you’re an honest man, and you want to see justice done to everybody, I’m sure.”
“I do, sir,” said Stelfox, modestly.
“And, in consideration of the fact that I’ve not been a bad master to you, or an ungenerous one for ten years, you would like, I am sure, to see justice done to me, too?”
“I should, sir,” answered Stelfox readily, but in a manner which left Mr. Bradfield to doubt whether the inflection of his voice was not “nasty.”