‘Yes,’ said the other. ‘In this respect we are most of us on an equality. But I must say this for Sir Watkin, that he would not make money, as some people make it nowadays, by feathering his nest at the expense of the public. It is to his credit that he lent his name to no doubtful speculation, though he was often asked to do so. He never was a company promoter.’
‘Well, but about this woman’s story?’
‘I tell you as she told it me.’
‘I know it all,’ said Wentworth, ‘and have known it long. The Colonel, who claims the entailed estate, is in London. Let us go and see him;’ and away they went to hunt him up at a swell military club of which he was a member.
The new heir was barely civil. When he heard what they had to say, he replied:
‘I am sure the family are much obliged to you; but look here, Mr. Wentworth, I am not a lawyer, but I am, I trust, a humble Christian. My wife and I have made this subject a matter of prayer. I have taken it in my closet to the Lord. My conscience approves of the course I take. I am in the path of duty. I have the interests of my family to think of. I don’t talk to you as a man of the world. There was a time, I own, when I did belong to that class, but then I knew no better. But I ask you, as a Christian man, how can I act otherwise?’
‘Why, you might come and hear what the poor woman has got to say for herself,’ said the Presbyterian parson. ‘You might follow the clue she might give you. You might save yourself from what seems to me the commission of a cruel wrong. You might act fairly to a lad who I believe has a better title to the estate than you have. In short, you might do to others as you would have others do to you.’
‘You can quote Scripture, then.’
‘Yes, I can; but it seems to be of little use.’
‘You are right, sir. We are told the devil can quote Scripture. To the carnal heart the Scripture is a sealed book. It is only as the Spirit opens the eyes of the believer that he can read aught.’