"You never gave it her!"
"She has bought it. I offered it to her through Hunter, and he advised Percy to buy it with her money."
"That means the furniture belongs to Mr. Taverner."
"Aunt Sophy paid every penny of the purchase money, therefore it belongs to her. I have you as a witness to prove it."
"She advanced the money to Mr. Taverner. She didn't even know what he wanted it for," cried Nellie.
"It will come out at her death, when Percy claims the furniture. We must keep the cheque, produce it to Percy, and demand an explanation. If he refuses to withdraw his claim, we will threaten to expose his knavish tricks before his high-minded Emmie, the whole of her virtuous family, and the immaculate firm of Cross and Martin."
"We!" laughed Nellie. "Do you suppose I will be the accomplice of your villainy?"
"This afternoon," said George, "I am going into town, and there I shall buy a sixpenny printed form of Will. I shall then insert what is necessary, words to the effect that all the furniture, with everything that Aunt Sophy dies possessed of, are to come to you. I have kept a copy of aunt's will, which was properly drawn up by a lawyer, so I shall know how to do it. Then you must ask Aunt Sophy to sign it. Kezia and Bessie ought to be the witnesses. It would serve them right," said George, chuckling vastly.
"I'll have nothing to do with it," cried Nellie.
"Then I must work alone as usual. I'm not going to let you be defrauded. The only way to get justice is to help yourself," declared George. "There's Hunter now! He would give twopence with one hand and steal your last sovereign with the other. And, if you caught the rascal, he would swear you had dropped the sovereign in his pocket. And he wouldn't rest until he had got back the twopence. Hunter stands for justice; he deals in it like Percy, who puts his sound tomatoes on top of the basket to hide the rotten ones underneath."