‘I want you to go with me to the church, and see the book, that, in case of anything happening to it, you may be a witness concerning its previous contents.’
‘I am too old to be the only witness,’ he said. ‘You ought to have several of your own age.’
‘I want as few to know the secret as may be,’ I answered.
‘You should have your lawyer one of them.’
‘He would never leave me alone about it,’ I replied; ‘and positively I shall take no measures at present. Some day I hope to punish him for deserting me as he did.’
For I had told him how Mr Coningham had behaved.
‘Revenge, Mr Cumbermede?’
‘Not a serious one. All the punishment I hope to give him is but to show him the fact of the case, and leave him to feel as he may about it.’
‘There can’t be much harm in that.’
He reflected a few moments, and then said: