Mallathorpe about the time of Antony Bartle's death.
"Whatever it is," he concluded sternly, "it's got to stop! If you've any
influence over your clerk----"
Eldrick made a grimace and waved his hand.
"He's our clerk no longer!" he said. "He left us the week after you went
up to town, Collingwood. He was only a weekly servant, and he took
advantage of that to give me a week's notice. Now, what game is Master
Pratt playing? He's smart, and he's deep, too. He----"
Just then an office-boy announced Mr. Robson, the Mallathorpe family
solicitor, a bustling, rather rough-and-ready type of man, who came into
Eldrick's room looking not only angry but astonished. He nodded to
Collingwood, and flung himself into a chair at the side of Eldrick's
desk.
"Look here, Eldrick!" he exclaimed. "What on earth has that clerk of
yours, Pratt, got to do with Mrs. Mallathorpe? Do you know what Mrs.
Mallathorpe has done? Hang it, she must be out of her senses,--or--or
there's something I can't fathom. She's given your clerk, Linford Pratt,
a power of attorney to deal with all her affairs and all her property!
Oh, it's all right, I tell you! Pratt's been to my office, and exhibited
it to me as if--as if he were the Lord Chancellor!"
Eldrick turned to Collingwood, and Collingwood to Eldrick--and then both
turned to Robson.
CHAPTER XIII
THE FIRST TRICK
The Mallathorpe family solicitor shook his head impatiently under those
questioning glances.
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