Speed protested, but protested in vain. And nothing moved the iron-faced man from his purpose; he might have been a statue for all he heeded those threats and expostulations.
[CHAPTER LI.]
COLD COMFORT
In an aimless kind of way Speed stepped into the street and turned his steps in the direction of the City. It had occurred to him almost in the light of an inspiration that Horace Mayfield might be of use at this juncture. Mayfield's office was full of clients; the place had an air of prosperity. But the head of the firm looked tired and jaded as Speed came into his private room; the fingers on his cigarette shook terribly.
"Sit down," Mayfield said curtly, "I have been wondering what had become of you. I have been expecting to hear about that sum of money we spoke of. Now that you have come so easily into the estate there can be no difficulty. The man who calls himself Ralph Darnley evidently is not aware of his own identity."
"Oh, isn't he?" Speed sneered, "that's just where you make the mistake. I have had no end of an eye-opener this morning, in fact, what you might call a regular staggerer. It came from my mother. I wish that I had taken her into my confidence from the first. But perhaps I had better tell you all about it."
"It would perhaps be as well," Mayfield said grimly. "Go on."
Speed proceeded to tell his story. Long before he had finished Mayfield's grey face became still more ashen and the fingers on his cigarette trembled visibly.
"So the ship has foundered," he said. "I've got a shrewd idea as to the game that Darnley is playing. I took that man for a fool. As a matter of fact, he is the cleverest chap I ever came across. To be candid, I did his father out of a lot of money. I played much the same game with Sir George Dashwood. And it seemed to me that Ralph Darnley was going to take it lying down. He made no face; he took no proceedings. And then it came upon me like a thunderbolt. At the time he was working up a case against me. He put it into the hands of the cleverest firm of criminal lawyers in London. He arranged such a damning lot of facts before me that I was bound to sacrifice everything to save a prosecution. I scraped the money together from all kinds of sources. I robbed other clients to get it. At the moment all my speculations go wrong, of course. I'm in a desperate hole, Speed; there isn't a man in London who is in such a hole today. If I don't get £30,000 by Monday I shall have to bolt--and there is no safe place to bolt to nowadays. You will have to get me this money on mortgage."
"But I can't," Speed protested. "I went to the family lawyers just now, and they refused to have anything to do with it. Said they were by no means satisfied as to my legal position. They went so far as to declare they not only decline to raise money on the estate, but they refuse to give up the deeds."