“I love my mother,” replied Harry; “and you, her brother, once loved her too.”
His uncle bowed his head. “True,” he said; “speak on.”
“And besides,” added Harry, “justice is justice all the world over, and crime should not prosper. Richard Burke, your brother, died at his home in Ireland. He had made two wills, one leaving the bulk of his fortune to his step-son, Stephen Philipson, and another, and later one, made on the occasion of Philipson turning out badly, leaving him a modest allowance, and bequeathing the bulk of his fortune between his sister and Reginald Kavanagh. This will, which would make my mother and Beatrice comfortable, as they have been brought up to esteem comfort, was not to be found; neither was the other. A dishonest clerk, forced to fly the country because a forgery he had committed must soon be discovered, stole them both out of the lawyer’s office where he was employed, for the purpose of levying a sum for giving them to one or the other of the parties interested. But the police were too close on his traces, and he had to fly without a chance of making use of either document. He was an Egyptian, and went home; but not feeling safe at Alexandria or Cairo, and having connections in the Soudan, he came to this country. If both wills are destroyed, part of the property comes to you.”
“And the cause has need of funds!” exclaimed the sheikh. “But how shall we find this dog?”
“I saw him the other day in the bazaar; his name is Daireh.”
“Daireh, the money-lender, against whom I have had so many complaints, but who always manages to have the law on his side?”
“The very same.”
The Sheikh Burrachee clapped his hands; an attendant came. “Bring hither Daireh, the Egyptian usurer,” said the sheikh; “and keep him guarded in the outer court.”
The Arab inclined his head and departed without a word.
It may seem to you that Harry Forsyth had recovered his wits very rapidly, and this, indeed, was the case. Up to a certain point his progress had been very slow, but that once passed he had come to himself almost at a bound. But as for his clear statement to his uncle, that he had prepared beforehand with great care, writing it out and learning it by heart, feeling that it was necessary to be as concise as possible.