"Did you put it to Cludde?" he asked suddenly.
"I did, sir, with all the force of which I was capable. I begged him to acquiesce in the known wishes of our friend, to accept the draft of the will--here it is--taken 'down by myself from his lips. Sir Richard looked at it, pished and pshawed, said he had never held John Ellery's wits in much account, and declared that my instructions were a clear proof of his feeble mindedness. When I protested that I had never known a man with a clearer head or of sounder sense he bellowed at me: what, did I think it sound sense to will away to a stranger property that had been in the family for generations?
"'No stranger,' I said, 'indeed, by marriage a kinsman of your own, Sir Richard.'
"'No kinsman of mine!' he said, 'nor of my lady's neither. When I married Susan Ellery I did not wed her brother, nor any beggar's brat'--those were his words, sir--'any beggar's brat he was fool enough to keep off the parish. If you had the will I'd dispute it against all the attorneys in England.'
"He is a hard man, Captain. He demands possession in a week."
"And your draft has no value in law?"
"Not a whit, I am sorry to say."
"Then devil take the law," the captain snapped out.
"Hang me, I'll go myself and see Cludde and tell him what I think of him."
"Not for me, Captain," said I, feeling my face burn. "I'll take nothing from Sir Richard Cludde, beggar's brat as I am."