“You have then the advantage of me,” returned Saint-Prosper, “for I––”
“You never heard of me?” laughed the lawyer. “Exactly! We attorneys are always getting our fingers in every one’s affairs! I am acquainted with you, as it were, from the cradle to the––present!”
“I am unexpectedly honored!” remarked the listener, satirically.
“First, I knew you through the Marquis de Ligne.”
Saint-Prosper started and regarded his visitor more closely.
“I was the humble instrument of making a fortune for you; it was also my lot to draw up the papers depriving you of the same!” Culver laughed amiably. 491 “‘Oft expectation fails, where most it promises.’ Pardon my levity! There were two wills; the first, in your favor; the last, in his daughter’s. I presume”––with a sudden, sharp look––“you have no intention of contesting the final disposition? The paternity of the child is established beyond doubt.”
Artful Culver was not by any means so sure in his own mind that, if the other were disposed to make trouble, the legal proofs of Constance’s identity would be so easily forthcoming. Barnes was dead; her mother had passed away many years before; the child had been born in London––where?––the marquis’ rationality, just before his demise, was a debatable question. In fact, since he had learned Saint-Prosper was in the city, the attorney’s mind had been soaring among a cloud of vague possibilities, and now, regarding his companion with a most kindly, ingratiating smile, he added:
“Besides, when the marquis took you as a child into his household, there were, I understood, no legal papers drawn!”
“I don’t see what your visit portends,” said Saint-Prosper, “unless there is some other matter?”
“Just so,” returned Culver, his doubts vanishing. “There was a small matter––a slight commission. Miss Carew requested me to hand you this message.” The visitor now detected a marked change in the soldier’s imperturbable bearing, as the latter took the envelope which the attorney offered him. “The young lady saw you at the Mistick Krewe ball last night, 492 and, recognizing an old friend,”––with a slight accent––“pressed me into her service. And now, having completed my errand, I will wish you good-morning!” And the lawyer briskly departed.