Mr. Egerton was the victim of an unfortunate circumstance. If he resigned his claim and avoided litigation he would be fairly treated.
Gurth accepted a liberal proposition, and acknowledged the genuineness of Miss Egerton’s pretensions, giving his legal assent to a transfer of the property, and accepting an indemnity for the revenue he had already had through his hands.
He managed to come out of the business with a small secured income and a by no means small nest-egg, and once more Mr. Oliver Birnie rubbed his hands and congratulated himself on the distinguished services he had rendered his friend.
He knew how, moreover, that perhaps Gurth might have some day appealed to him if the settlement had been less satisfactory, and though he owed his present position entirely to Gurth’s assistance in early days, he was by no means inclined to return, the compliment.
Men of Birnie’s stamp never return anything, unless it is an I O U in answer to a friend’s appeal for help.
Ruth’s solicitors were dealing not only with the affairs of Miss Egerton, but they also, at Ruth’s request, undertook the task of releasing George Heritage.
In the quiet lawyer’s office Ruth, deeply veiled, told the whole story, and though her heart almost broke and her face burnt with shame as slowly, and with a trembling voice, she recounted her husband’s share in it, she went on bravely to the end, never halting until she had branded herself with the shame of being a felon’s wife, and stripped herself of every penny she had in the world.
The solicitors took up the strange case with energy, and worked bravely for their client. Link by link they rejoined the long-broken chain, and carried the case even into the sacred precincts of the Home Office.
And in the end, after delays and endless trouble, the Home Secretary was good enough graciously to advise Her Majesty to grant a free pardon to a man who had done nothing—nothing except to escape from the prison where he had been cast by the merciless machinations of a gang of guilty wretches with the assistance of Mr. Seth Preene, late in the confidence and in the pay of the authorities of Scotland Yard.