Robson to want to injure me in a matter
which is no business of theirs. I shall do my duty by Mrs.
Mallathorpe--you yourself know I'm fully competent to do it--and I shall
fully earn the percentage that she'll pay me. What right have these
people--what right has her daughter--to come between me and my living?"
"Oh, well, well!" said Eldrick, as he handed back the papers and rose.
"It's one of those matters that hasn't been understood. You made a
mistake, you know, Pratt, when you went to see Mrs. Mallathorpe yesterday
in her daughter's absence. You shouldn't have done that."
Pratt pulled open a drawer and, after turning over some loose papers,
picked out a letter.
"Do you know Mrs. Mallathorpe's handwriting?" he asked. "Very
well--there it is! Isn't that a request from her that I should call on
her yesterday afternoon? Very well then!"
Eldrick looked at the letter with some surprise. He had a good memory,
and he remembered that Collingwood had told him that Nesta had said that
Pratt had gone to Normandale Grange, seen Esther Mawson, and told her
that it was absolutely necessary for him to see Mrs. Mallathorpe. And
though Eldrick was naturally unsuspicious, an idea flashed across his
mind--had Pratt got Mrs. Mallathorpe to write that letter while he was
there--yesterday--and brought it away with him?
"I think there's a good deal of misunderstanding," he said.
Pages:
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150