“The letter, my lord, which I sent to you, was simply to inform you that on looking into the affairs of your lordship’s late relative, Mr. John Martindale, I find, to my great astonishment, that his property far exceeds what by his will seemed his own apprehension of the extent of it; and therefore that the legacy which devolves to me as residuary-legatee, is much greater than the devisor apprehended or designed. Under these circumstances, therefore, I wrote to your lordship, as one of the nearest relatives of the deceased, to know what might be your will as to the disposal of the property.”
His lordship smiled and said, “My will, Mr. Markham, is, that you should take possession of whatever my cousin has bequeathed to you. For if your legacy had turned out to be less than you expected, I dare say that you would not have applied to me to increase it; and now that it happens to be more, why should I consent to diminish it?”
“Had it been a little more or a little less, my lord, it would have been superfluous to take notice of it; but when I know that it was Mr. Martindale’s intention to leave me only ten or fifteen thousand pounds, I cannot with any propriety avail myself of an absolute error which puts me in possession of a very large fortune. By this error, I am placed in a very unpleasant situation.”
“But how are you sure, Mr. Markham, that this is an error? I see pretty well how the case stands. You have not sent for Mr. Price to meet us on this occasion: you had compassion on his feelings. I have long suspected that this man has not been acting quite honestly towards my late relative. I know that he expected to be residuary-legatee; and he has concealed, or at least endeavoured to conceal, from Mr. Martindale the real extent of his property: but you must have known that my cousin was a shrewd observant man; and is it not possible that having detected the trickery of this confidential gentleman, he may have resolved thus to disappoint him?”
“I can hardly admit that, my lord,” replied Markham; “for Mr. Denver has told me that when this last will was made, Mr. Martindale expressed himself desirous of leaving to Mr. Price something more than would devolve to him as residuary-legatee; and I can hardly suppose that Mr. Martindale would have left him any thing at all had he detected him in such a transaction. I thank you, my lord, for the construction which you are liberally disposed to put on the will; but I cannot indeed, and I will not avail myself of what I consider as an absolute error.”
Lord Trimmerstone listened seriously, looked thoughtfully, and at last, after a considerable pause, said, “Well, Mr. Markham, if it must be so it must; but I sincerely tell you, I am sorry that you are so scrupulous. You really put me into an unpleasant situation; for if it be not honorable for you to accept the property, I cannot think that I should be acting honorably in availing myself of your generosity.”
“My lord,” continued Markham, “you must not call it generosity. I am acting upon what I conceive to be a principle of simple justice. I might of course take advantage lawfully of the error; but law and justice so far differ, inasmuch as justice must depend upon circumstances; and the letter of a written law cannot change according to varying events and unforeseen accidents.”
This was all very true and very proper. Lord Trimmerstone could not but admire and commend Markham’s spirit. On the other hand, Markham was astonished at the apparent change in Lord Trimmerstone’s manners, which were not as they had been, those of a proud and vulgar man of high rank, but civil, gentle, and courteous. The fanatic principle had really done his lordship some good. Nothing short of that could have checked him in his gambling course, or brought him from the society of his reckless and heedless companions. It is true that there was not a very complete, nor, in all respects, an entirely advantageous change in his manners. He had become somewhat morose and cynical; and from being delighted with excesses, he had become snarlingly disgusted at temperate pleasures; and he looked with a kind of moral contempt upon those characters which had stood, in a moral point of view, much higher than his own. But at all events, to get rid of ruinous and profligate habits is desirable, and worth some sacrifices.