“Time is money,” said Mr. Cornelius; “and a few words shall not long detain either of us. In October last, a Mr. Andrews died; my debtor to the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars. The debt is secured by mortgage upon his house; but his widow comes in for twice the sum, in virtue of her paraphernal rights, and as her claim is older than mine, it will sweep away all, unless I can show that the marriage was void in law.”
“In what respect, Mr. Cornelius?”
“Andrews had a wife living at the time of his second marriage.”
“Had the second wife any knowledge of the fact before her cohabitation with the deceased, or at any period thereafter, prior to the springing of her claim, with the simultaneous mortgage which the law gives to married women and minors as their best security?”
“Perhaps not.”
“How much does the second wife claim?”
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
“What is the value of the succession?”
“The house may be worth twenty; and the house is all.”
“If you succeed, the widow is a beggar?”