“I have no money either to lend or to advance.”
“I have been to the bank, but they won’t look at the business. It’s a mean, creeping, miserable bank. I shall change it.”
“Well, Mr. Galley, I am sorry to hear that you are in trouble, but I cannot help you.”
“If I do go bankrupt,” he said savagely, “the old woman will go into the workhouse. That’s one consolation. And she’s your great-aunt.”
“You forget your sister, Mr. Galley. From what I know of Board Schools, I should say that she is quite able to maintain her grandmother. If not, there may be other assistance.”
“There’s another thing, then,” he persisted. “When I spoke to you first, I mentioned the word ‘accumulations.’ ”
“No one mentions any other word just now, I think,” Leonard replied, with a touch of temper.
“They must be enormous. I’ve been working it out. Enormous! And that old man can’t live much longer. He can’t. He’s ninety-five.”
“Mr. Galley, I put it to you as a lawyer, or, at least, as a solicitor: Do you think that your great-grandfather has lived all these years without making a will?”
“He can’t make a will. He is a madman.”