“Chick,” said Nick, “what you have discovered fits in very well with some things I have learned to-day, and together the two discoveries make a pretty strong showing.
“Before calling on Samuel Elwell, who is the lawyer who acted for the inventor and is now acting for the widow, I made some pretty close inquiries as to his standing. In those inquiries I have learned that, since the death of the inventor, Elwell and Seaman have been seen together very frequently, but almost wholly in the evenings and uptown. I cannot learn that Seaman ever called at Elwell’s office.
“The fact that they met at night would in itself be of no sort of consequence, perhaps; but when I called on Elwell he denied ever having seen Seaman, saying that he was unacquainted with the person. This looks bad on the face of it, and, at all events, shows that Elwell is an unreliable person.
“Elwell is the man who drew up the articles of agreement between the inventor and Mr. Herron, which had not been signed at the time of the death of the inventor. He, therefore, well knew what the intention of the inventor was, and what value the inventor had received from Mr. Herron. Yet it is he who advised the widow to accept the offer Seaman made and who had been trying in her name to recover the drawing and models from Mr. Herron.”
“And your conclusion is—what?” asked Chick.
“My conclusion is,” replied Nick, “that Elwell is not acting sincerely for the widow, is advising her badly with the intention of profiting in the enterprise himself.
“Mr. Herron’s lawyer tells me that Elwell had abandoned his suit against Herron for the recovery, since he found he had no standing in court; and, when Mr. Herron’s lawyer refused to make such concession as would enable the case to be tried, Elwell lost his temper, declaring that if they were not permitted to proceed on legal lines they were not to be blamed if they took to illegal ones. In short, Chick, Mr. Seaman and Mr. Elwell are both men to be watched.”
They had arrived at this stage of the consultation, when Patsy came in, in great haste.
“I have got to get back again as quick as I can!” he exclaimed, “so let me spiel first.”
Consent having been given him, Patsy told his story—a story that elicited the heartiest praise and laughter from Nick and Chick.