At this, Hugh placed two further documents on the table.
Drayton cleared his throat noisily.
"Dear me, dear me! yet it's plain enough!" said one of the visitors.
"Then what about Mrs. Ritson—Miss Greta, I mean?" asked another.
"She is Paul Lowther's half-sister, and therefore his marriage with her must be annulled."
The three gentlemen turned in their seats and looked amazed, Drayton still smoked in silence. Bonnithorne did not raise his head.
"He will relinquish to me my father's estates, but he is not left penniless," continued Hugh Ritson. "By his own father's will he inherits five thousand pounds."
Drayton snorted contemptuously, then spat on the floor.
"Friends," said Hugh Ritson again, "there is only one further point, and I am loath to touch on it. My brother—I speak of Paul Lowther—on taking possession of the estates, exercised what he believed to be his legal right to mortgage them. I am sorry to say he mortgaged them deeply."
There was an interchange of astute glances.